The Official FOX 9 Newsroom Blog

Flames spew from a motorcycle dealership.  A 6-car pile-up backs up traffic for miles.  A violent storm rips through a residential area.  These are stories we cover…with a hover.

Aerial photos and video from a helicopter or airplane have been sporadically used in news coverage for decades.  But, it took “OJ” for the chopper to really take off.  Industry experts, like Bell Helicopters, say it wasn’t until after the infamous Ford Bronco chase that television news stations realized the need for news coverage from the air.  Now, in large markets, every station has a helicopter. 

Here at Fox 9 news, our helicopter (SkyFOX-9) is a vital news gathering tool in covering, not only the metro, but the entire state.  Everyday is something different.  Sometimes, SkyFOX stays parked in the hangar.  Other days, it barely stays on the ground.

My role aboard SkyFOX-9 is to operate the camera and provide live reports on events as they unfold from our perspective. 

A few memorable trips:

The day after the bridge fell was my first day on the job.  We flew over the site from sun-up to well into the day.  From the air, the scene was complex:  Bridge on water.  Bridge on land.  Cars on water.  Cars on land.  A tangled mess of concrete and steel.  It’s an image I will never forget.

In January, the news desk instructed us to check out a car accident in St. Paul.  It turns out the scene was clear once we arrived.  However, on our way back to Flying Cloud Airport (homebase) we noticed a plume of smoke pouring out of a building just north of 94.  Turns out, a recycling facility had erupted in flames.  Sometimes you get lucky while covering news - you’re in the right place at the right time.  We were over the scene faster than the fire crews and shot some great footage.

Lately, it’s been all about what Mother Nature can do.  A neighborhood in Hugo getting swiped by a powerful tornado…The Cedar River spills into downtown Austin…That same river crests at over 30 feet and takes out homes, businesses, and farmland in eastern Iowa…Southeastern Minnesota sees so much rain to not only force the Root River to flood, but cause mudslides too.   This last month has been a lesson in what severe weather can do in the Midwest.

I will continue to post about what we see from…the air up there.

Chopper Dave

(Dave Berggren)