This helicpoter / boat photo shoot crash occured at LOTO in 2005...fortunately no injuries.

http://www.mswp.dps.mo.gov/news/NRDe...0&ID=N07050050

I'm not "up" on the lastest and greatest technology but I would think that today's cameras could get a great shot further away than that!

This was in a post earlier today- someone resurrected it from a while back

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=160647

This photo was in it. I saw the interview where Bob Teague said there was no contact with the helo. The photo was from the news report on the crash.

Posted on Fox's website this afternoon...

VENICE – Jennifer Zuknick remembers seeing a wall of water moments after a helicopter crashed in the Gulf of Mexico right in front of her.

"As soon as the helicopter hit the water, I closed my eyes and thought, 'here it comes, you think you're going to get hit by something,'" she said.

Zuknick is a nurse who was doing some modeling for a speedboat magazine when the helicopter carrying the photographer taking pictures of her and the boat suddenly spun out of control.

"The helicopter was in front of us taking close-up pictures and the front leg of the helicopter hit the water—and immediately all we saw was a wall of water," she said.

The accident happened about two miles off of Casey Key, about six miles northeast of Venice in the Gulf of Mexico.

After the crash, Zuknick and the driver of the boat, Bob Teague, jumped in the water to help the three men in the helicopter.

"I jumped in and swam to the first guy I saw, he was face down…so I turned him over so he could breath. And then Bob jumped in and helped with the other guys, and unfortunately, we didn't have good results with them," she said.

Thomas Newby of California and Mark Copeland of North Carolina were both killed. The pilot of the copter, Mark Watters of California, survived, but was seriously hurt. Watters is listed in fair condition at Bayfront Medical Center, but sources say he may have to have his leg amputated.

Federal investigators were back out on the waters Wednesday, trying to determine what caused a helicopter to collide with a speedboat, crashing during a magazine photo shoot on Tuesday morning.

Witnesses say a skid on the bottom of the helicopter caught the water while photographing a speedboat at close range, and the aircraft flipped over. Three men, including two photographers, were onboard at the time.

"The helicopter was flying in front of us, and something apparently went wrong, and it went into the water," said Bob Teague, who was behind the wheel of the boat.

Teague said the helicopter was doing a photo shoot for Powerboat Magazine when the accident happened.

"They came a little too close to the water," explained sheriff's office spokesman Chuck Lesaltato.

Deputies say Teague and Zuknick may have helped save Watters' life. Zuknick also happens to be an emergency room nurse. She jumped alongside Teague and helped pull the men to shore.

When Zuknick got to shore, she was completely covered in fuel and had to be rinsed off. She attempted to perform CPR on one of the victims, but her efforts were unsuccessful.

Teague said they were speeding across the Gulf, the way so many crews have done before, when the helicopter hit the water.

"The helicopter was flying in front of us and something went wrong and it went into the water," Teague said.

Miami-based investigator Jose Obregon says divers will spend the day in the water on Wednesday, trying to recover pieces of the copter.

"Once the recovery, the wreckage has been recovered out of the water, we'll have the manufacturer look at it and see what we can come up with," said Obregon.

The preliminary report should take between five and seven days, with a full report on the crash taking possibly as long as two years.

Authorities say the Federal Aviation Administration has taken over the investigation into the crash.



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That is crazy right there. I co-piloted Angel II before and we had very strict rules as far as distance to the water and boats. Not this old boy!

First, Bob has said he his debris from the crash with the port sponson of the skater after the helicopter went down and while attempting to avoid (which he did) a collsion with the helicopter (AFTER it was going down). Bob also said the helicopter did not come in contact with the boat prior to hitting the water and that everything was going good until the helicopter fell like a rock (mechanical failure).

Second, yes, the video looks dangerous and there's always danger when doing these photo shoots. Remember though, this is a closed course at Parker strip (Az.), low to no wind, dead calm water and it was shot early in the a.m. when the temp is lower.

Third, remember that you are watching a ****ty video and that it could just happen to look a lot worse than it is with angle, speed and quality of the video. I'm not saying he's not low but it just may look a LOT lower than he actually was.

Fourth, Mark is an outstanding pilot. He and Tom were like left and right arms of the same body. Mark knew exactly where to put the helicopter for that perfect shot for Tom. I've been running at 60+ under them in the ocean with 3-5' swells where I looked up and could see the blue of Tom Newby's eyes. Felt like I could touch the skids of the helicopter. This was a shot from that run. Look at the angle of the shots. You can't get that angle with any type of zoom lense made. Running almost even next to the boat requires the need to be low with the helicopter.

I'll say it again. God speed to those that lost their lives in this tragic accident and heres to a quick recovery for Mark.

Hadn't heard that- thanks for the clarification. It's a good thing that someone like Teague was driving or their may have been more casualties. That had to be close.

That's the thing with a helo- altitude has little to do with the outcome when you have rotor failures. An engine can fall off of a fixed wing and it's still got some glide left in it. Not so with a helo.

That looks dangerous as hell. No shot is worth losing your life over. I can tell you if a chopper photographed me that close, he wouldn't want to land where I can find him. I've been on several poker runs, and fun runs where a helo was taking pictures, and never saw anything like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QliQyNj3Mjs

here's a link to the raw Miami Vice movie footage that was floating around when the movie came out.

This shows you how close and what angles helos use when shooting pics and videos.

[QUOTE=thisistank;2269100]First, Bob has said he his debris from the crash with the port sponson of the skater after the helicopter went down and while attempting to avoid (which he did) a collsion with the helicopter (AFTER it was going down). Bob also said the helicopter did not come in contact with the boat prior to hitting the water and that everything was going good until the helicopter fell like a rock (mechanical failure).
[QUOTE]

Video on one of the Sarasota stations yesterday showed the skater with a very large (3' x 4') piece of what looked like white sheet metal and yellow insulation hanging off the front of the sponson. All I could think of was, wow, that must have been very close, considering the speed they were probably moving. It was bad enough, but probably an eyelash from being much worse.