A3N 996 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Just don't say anything bad about cats when talking to ND Tiffany. Eesh. Hey, just a quick question. What's the deal with the chopper? They've been on a loaner for almost a month now, and in reading around, they say that Chopper 8 is being upgraded, but that sure seems like a long time for a helicopter to get upgraded. Any info on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Eesh. Hey, just a quick question. What's the deal with the chopper? They've been on a loaner for almost a month now, and in reading around, they say that Chopper 8 is being upgraded, but that sure seems like a long time for a helicopter to get upgraded. Any info on that? What a joke. The camera and transmitter are new...but the camera has been dodgy since it was installed 1/12 years ago. This has gone longer than the regular annual... ...nobody is really complaining ...... It's an old platform and tv electronics don't do well 206's due to the 2 blade vibration. It's also not a turnkey airship like most newer a-stars. There is a lot of "custom" work that can barely pass the FAR's. It's the only newscopter with termites..... The only "other" newscopter with termites was "Tweety Bird"....AKA Sky-10, which had about the same liberal use of duct tape to hold it together. Anyone see it sitting on the pads at Van Nuys??? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 What a joke. The camera and transmitter are new...but the camera has been dodgy since it was installed 1/12 years ago. This has gone longer than the regular annual... ...nobody is really complaining ...... It's an old platform and tv electronics don't do well 206's due to the 2 blade vibration. It's also not a turnkey airship like most newer a-stars. There is a lot of "custom" work that can barely pass the FAR's. It's the only newscopter with termites..... The only "other" newscopter with termites was "Tweety Bird"....AKA Sky-10, which had about the same liberal use of duct tape to hold it together. Anyone see it sitting on the pads at Van Nuys??? . Is the chopper currently HD? I emailed with the pilot of WBAL's SkyTeam 11 and the conversion to HD / required infrastructure was done at home base of US Helicopters in NC. All in all the upgrade / plus standard maintenance took a month - month and a half. During that time they had a back up bird. It may have taken a little more time in 2009 as HD from the air was still kind of new. Edit: Not sure if your the one who posted this but here's what I found on a forum: New KFMB CBS Chopper 8 Helicopter in San Diego - N1231A Re: New KFMB CBS Chopper 8 Helicopter in San Diego - N1231A Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 10:12 am by Brian I emailed and got this reply from Phil. We are temporarily using an AStar while the contractor prepares a newer, replacement Bell 206. I might get some photos up in the future. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 Is the chopper currently HD? I emailed with the pilot of WBAL's SkyTeam 11 and the conversion to HD / required infrastructure was done at home base of US Helicopters in NC. All in all the upgrade / plus standard maintenance took a month - month and a half. During that time they had a back up bird. It may have taken a little more time in 2009 as HD from the air was still kind of new. Edit: Not sure if your the one who posted this but here's what I found on a forum: New KFMB CBS Chopper 8 Helicopter in San Diego - N1231A Nice find. Yeah, the helicopter as Eat News pointed out was upgraded a few years ago to HD. But it was plagued with problems from the get-go. Plus, the other stations using the feed (KGTV, KNSD, KSWB,KUSI) never really aired the HD feed, that was only left to KFMB for some reason (though they are the controlling partner of the chopper). In the last 3 or 4 months, it's been down constantly for "maintenance," and has had some major camera problems, until they thing finally crapped out. I believe the San Diego Sheriff's Department has a 206 in its fleet, and it it's pretty souped up, so I do wonder if this replacement will be just as good as that one. What a joke. The camera and transmitter are new...but the camera has been dodgy since it was installed 1/12 years ago. This has gone longer than the regular annual... ...nobody is really complaining ...... It's an old platform and tv electronics don't do well 206's due to the 2 blade vibration. It's also not a turnkey airship like most newer a-stars. There is a lot of "custom" work that can barely pass the FAR's. It's the only newscopter with termites..... The only "other" newscopter with termites was "Tweety Bird"....AKA Sky-10, which had about the same liberal use of duct tape to hold it together. Anyone see it sitting on the pads at Van Nuys??? . I don't think anyone will complain when the replacement performs 100x better than the regular one. Frankly, i'm surprised that its taking them this long to get something permanent. As rkolsen pointed out in that link, it looks like they're getting a newer 206, but you would think with all the troubles they've had, they should have stuck with an A-star... Not my money, but in they end, they'll get what they pay for. Maybe now they can finally paint the correct logo on the chopper... *Sorry for clogging up the thread with these posts. Weeters, could you possibly move these KFMB helicopter posts onto a new thread? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Plus, the other stations using the feed (KGTV, KNSD, KSWB,KUSI) never really aired the HD feed, that was only left to KFMB for some reason (though they are the controlling partner of the chopper). I wonder if the lack of HD feed is due to distribution to the other stations isn't permanent. From what I've read about Local News Services in Miami and DC is that the signal is sent via fiber to the others. Maybe to save money they are using one their "regular" transmitter / receive sites and the one that is upgraded for HD was in use. I can see the use of dedicated fiber in a market where the bird is up on a consistent schedule (morning, afternoon, evening and night) and in a market that may covers a large area and has frequent breaking news. Of course they could go the IP route and install a LiveU server (or similar) and use the multicast functionality to distribute the signal. As a side note does Chopper 8 ever cross over to Mexico for some news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 I wonder if the lack of HD feed is due to distribution to the other stations isn't permanent. From what I've read about Local News Services in Miami and DC is that the signal is sent via fiber to the others. Maybe to save money they are using one their "regular" transmitter / receive sites and the one that is upgraded for HD was in use. I can see the use of dedicated fiber in a market where the bird is up on a consistent schedule (morning, afternoon, evening and night) and in a market that may covers a large area and has frequent breaking news. Of course they could go the IP route and install a LiveU server (or similar) and use the multicast functionality to distribute the signal. As a side note does Chopper 8 ever cross over to Mexico for some news? No. Never, to my knowledge. Hell, they have a hard time getting the chopper to fly over to the far eastern and northern portions of the county as it is. Basically, this chopper only flies up to Oceanside (north-coast), Fallbrook (north-inland), San Ysidro (South-border) and El Cajon (East SD County--although, there is still more area to cover, but that's usually the limit). Plus, if it's raining, windy, foggy the chopper is grounded. The L.A. choppers are able to be up during most of the conditions above, but here is a different story. Not exactly the most ideal situation, since every station in town shares the same helicopter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 [quote=" I believe the San Diego Sheriff's Department has a 206 in its fleet, and it it's pretty souped up, so I do wonder if this replacement will be just as good as that one. I don't think anyone will complain when the replacement performs 100x better than the regular one.s The Sheriff here has 2 407s' a 405 and some MD-500's. The 407's have the extra window but 4 blades and seats 7. The upgraded Chopper 8 will probably have a new paint job...and a few less stress cracks. If they are lucky they get that old KNTV or KGW airship. There is really no incentive to provide more. That's just the way it's supposed be now. No competition... No extra unforeseen expenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Saw a front facing pic of the new [older] Chopper 8... The chopper is painted red with grey and white stripes. It has a new cineflex camera and some new LED lights in the front. Can't tell if the chopper is painted with KFMB's logo or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n925tv 143 Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Saw a front facing pic of the new [older] Chopper 8... The chopper is painted red with grey and white stripes. It has a new cineflex camera and some new LED lights in the front. Can't tell if the chopper is painted with KFMB's logo or not. Saw that one flying around as well, didn't realize it was KFMB's. But from the Chopper feed they do have the LED lights and the Cineflex camera as you mentioned. Wonder why the interesting color choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 Saw that one flying around as well, didn't realize it was KFMB's. But from the Chopper feed they do have the LED lights and the Cineflex camera as you mentioned. Wonder why the interesting color choice? The pics I've seen are from Phil Kontstatin's FB page, and it doesn't show the back or side view of the chopper. So it's hard to tell if it's branded as "Chopper 8" or not. Not sure why it would be red, unless they're deciding to keep it un-branded, for whatever reason. And it looks like it was just recently painted too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n925tv 143 Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 The pics I've seen are from Phil Kontstatin's FB page, and it doesn't show the back or side view of the chopper. So it's hard to tell if it's branded as "Chopper 8" or not. Not sure why it would be red, unless they're deciding to keep it un-branded, for whatever reason. And it looks like it was just recently painted too... Ah, found the pictures. Sure looks interesting. Really thought they were going to get a new AStar, but I guess they like sticking to their old Bell. At least it has a new camera... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Trust me on this... If TTN could get away with an R-44 they would in a second. But KFMB has "some" standards...and an R-44 is just too slow, and if you think the pilots are "conservative" now.... I digress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 Ah, found the pictures. Sure looks interesting. Really thought they were going to get a new AStar, but I guess they like sticking to their old Bell. At least it has a new camera... Yup, the new cineflex is night and day compared to the FLIR. You can hardly tell they're not using the A-Star anymore. The dead giveaway is that the Bell is a bit louder on air. Trust me on this... If TTN could get away with an R-44 they would in a second. But KFMB has "some" standards...and an R-44 is just too slow, and if you think the pilots are "conservative" now.... I digress. Those standards must be shit if they can't get the pilots to cover the market, properly. Do you know if they painted the chopper with KFMB's logo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Yup, the new cineflex is night and day compared to the FLIR. You can hardly tell they're not using the A-Star anymore. The dead giveaway is that the Bell is a bit louder on air. Those standards must be shit if they can't get the pilots to cover the market, properly. Do you know if they painted the chopper with KFMB's logo? I can see the bottom of it from the feed but can't see the side. Is it the same tail #? I can't tell yet. Might have to wait for the belated promo.....in the Feb book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 I can see the bottom of it from the feed but can't see the side. Is it the same tail #? I can't tell yet. Might have to wait for the belated promo.....in the Feb book. No, I couldn't see either. I wanted to look up to see how old this chopper is. The old one was built in 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n925tv 143 Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Seems like their new chopper is contracted with Welk Aviation (ACA). [MEDIA=twitter]672138667490566144[/MEDIA] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Seems like their new chopper is contracted with Welk Aviation (ACA). [MEDIA=twitter]672138667490566144[/MEDIA] So I'm guessing they're done [business-wise] with National Helicopter? Hopefully this means more quality aerial service in SD. Edit: Looks like they got the Cineflex camera off the loaner chopper they've been using for the last few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n925tv 143 Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Edit: Looks like they got the Cineflex camera off the loaner chopper they've been using for the last few months. They kept the camera? That's strange, since N29LW still has it's camera, they were using it today in San Bernardino. Unless they put a new one on 29LW, but that wouldn't make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 They kept the camera? That's strange, since N29LW still has it's camera, they were using it today in San Bernardino. Unless they put a new one on 29LW, but that wouldn't make sense. Sorry made a mistake. Just looked at one of Phil's photos, the loaner A-Star is in the back, and the CineFlex Camera is still there. My bad. I was basing my assumption on one of Welk's videos in which they had an A-Star with only the pole mount (missing the camera). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Could this be the new bird? [MEDIA=instagram]_Cr-42Rx8C[/MEDIA] May need to click through to read the caption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 Could this be the new bird? [MEDIA=instagram]_Cr-42Rx8C[/MEDIA] May need to click through to read the caption. Yeah, it looks like that's it. It's registered to Helicopters Unlimited out of LA. Not sure if Welk purchased the chopper or what. If the chopper is in LA right now, it would explain why the video on the current chopper they're using right now looks fuzzy. I wonder if they'll brand it as Chopper 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Could this be the new bird? [MEDIA=instagram]_Cr-42Rx8C[/MEDIA] May need to click through to read the caption. Looks like it from the bottom. Simply embarrassing! Nothing but transmitter problems with this one so far. They have been taking half the show to dick with it. First the NavTrak was goofy....now it just won't lock to the rx site at times. The paintjob looks like Napolian Dynamites t-shirt. No... Not "Vote For Pedro". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 Looks like it from the bottom. Simply embarrassing! Nothing but transmitter problems with this one so far. They have been taking half the show to dick with it. First the NavTrak was goofy....now it just won't lock to the rx site at times. The paintjob looks like Napolian Dynamites t-shirt. No... Not "Vote For Pedro". Did they recycle equipment from the old chopper or did they retrofit this new chopper with new stuff? at least the camera works better in this chopper... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Did they recycle equipment from the old chopper or did they retrofit this new chopper with new stuff? at least the camera works better in this chopper... I'm guessing they upgraded the whole system - wouldn't make sense to retrofit a new helicopter with older equipment? Chances are it's a high definition camera from Cineflex. Their base model media helicopter uses the same cameras that are used for the Today Show and other network programming. Even if the images are beamed back in SD widescreen the quality will be greatly improved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Did they recycle equipment from the old chopper or did they retrofit this new chopper with new stuff? at least the camera works better in this chopper... I do not know what goodwill store it was purchased from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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