Bird's-Eye View

Eleven years ago Los Angeles' enterprising KTLA mounted a mobile TV camera, began offering its viewers on-the-spot coverage of major news events. Among them: atom bomb explosions on Yucca Flat, a Sante Fe train wreck, an earthquake in California, the ordeal of little Kathy Fiscus trapped in the bottom of a well. Last week KTLA announced triumphantly that it had succeeded in building a TV camera into a helicopter, the world's first commercial airborne unit.

The "telecopier" represented three years of planning and experimentation. The 2,000-lb. weight of a standard camera and transmitter would require a helicopter too bulky to be agile. Under Chief KTLA Engineer John Silva's supervision, designers kept whittling away, brought the weight down to 368 lbs., which a Bell G-2 helicopter could easily handle. The two-man crew was picked for their light weight and warned to stay thin. The pilot doubles as observer, and the copilot does everything else, including aiming and setting the camera. Silva and G.E. engineers solved the transmitting problem by tacking a 3-ft.-long modified helical antenna on the whirlybird, setting up a receiving dish atop KTLA's Mount Wilson power plant. The dish follows the copter's movements, relays its signals onto the horne screen. Cost of camera equipment: $40,000; helicopter $42,000.

For transmitting, the copter must remain within line-of-sight range of the Mount Wilson receiver. But within that range, KTLA will offer its viewers close-up looks at everything from traffic tie-ups to mountainside rescues, crew races and forest fires.

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