First live broadcast from a UAV.....

[pchristy]

Some of you may know that until I retired last year, my "day" job was as a broadcast engineer working for (at various times) both the BBC and ITN.

Back in 1990, there was a riot at Strangeways prison in Manchester. It occupied the headlines for a couple of weeks until the authorities regained control. During that period, an exclusion zone was placed around the prison preventing anything other than Police helicopters from approaching. Then one day, the police heli broke down, and the exclusion zone was temporarily lifted, allowing a very good friend of mine to fly a camera-carrying heli up for a peek inside. The resulting video was shown live at the top of ITN's One o'clock news that day. As far as I'm aware, this was the first time a UAV had been used for a live broadcast. Here's a look behind the scenes.......

The heli was powered by TWO Rossi 60s running tuned pipes. At the time these were the most powerful engines you could get! The noise was deafening! In addition to the camera, the heli carried a microwave downlink, enabling broadcast quality video to be sent live to the studios in London.

There really is nothing new under the sun!

[jimmyhorns]

Its interesting to see just how difficult it was to get a stable picture there. It reminds me of my first go's with my hex - without fpv and trying to aim as best I could, which was always terrible...


I wonder if he was about to see the downlink - effectively making it fpv?...

Was the ANO not in effect then?....

[pchristy]

I wonder if he was about to see the downlink - effectively making it fpv?...

No, Geoff (the pilot) was flying the heli. The cameraman had separate control over the pan and tilt ball, plus the zoom. He talked to Geoff over the headset if he needed the heli repositioned.

Was the ANO not in effect then?....

Very much so, which is why we had to wait for the exclusion zone to be lifted before the pix could be taken. Its not obvious from the video, but the flying was done from the roof of a nearby building, with the landlord's consent. The heli never strayed beyond the limits of the building - it didn't need to to peer over the walls! And all the people nearby were directly or indirectly involved, and hence "under the control" of the operators.

The reason the exclusion zone was lifted was that the police heli suffered a mechanical failure, and couldn't make its routine inspection. The police hired a civilian replacement, but the only way it could legally operate was if the exclusion zone was temporarily lifted. This was done in the belief that no-one else would have time to scramble another camera helicopter, unaware that ITN had this one on site and ready to go. We had a "mole" in ATC at Manchester who tipped us off!

The best part of the tale is that some high-ranking Home Office wallah was due to give a press conference on the steps of Strangeways at one o'clock. The heli took off a few minutes before one! All of Fleet Street's finest immediately abandoned the press conference to chase this new story - what on earth was this heli and who was operating it? The Home Office wallah found himself addressing no-one, and was not pleased! An instruction came down from high to "find who was responsible, and nail his hide"! Luckily, the crew had kept all the footage and could prove that they had never strayed beyond the edge of the building, so no offence had been committed! All the CAA could do was vent their frustration at the pilot by saying "Well ------ DON'T DO IT AGAIN!"

[p4ddy]

No head lock gyro on that ugly bad boy