Here's my rant

[Richard B the EMT]

No, Hudson, a few years back. A traffic reporting 'copter known as the "N" copter, as it was operated for W"N"BC radio 66. Actually crashed while giving a traffic report, and the replay of that audio has the lady reporter yelling over the sounds of the distressed engine and whatever mechanical things going wrong "Hit the water, Hit the water". The pilot survived, the lady traffic reporter did not.

Figure this as far enough back, EMS was not yet a part of the FDNY, Ed Koch was still mayor of NYC, Don Imus and Howard Stern both then worked for WNBC radio, and publicly hated each other, which I understand is still the case.

(Publicity stunt, the the station DJs and announcers pronounced the station ID as "double-yew ENNNN bee sea")

An FDNY Rescue that also does SCUBA (not SCBA, SCUBA), witnessed the crash from a nearby location, rushed to the scene, suited up, and was in the water attempting to locate the chopper's occupants, an NYPD Emergency Services Unit vehicle pulled up, and the cops, while they were suiting up, ordered the FD divers out of the water!

There were 2 helo crashes in the East River, within the same month, in either 2006 or 2007, and a TV news copter that crashed, as seen on other News Copter coverage, while covering some other news event, a block off Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, but I was not referring to them.

The Flatbush crash? Just remembered, that was a WNBC-TV4 newscopter!