PLT OF AN SMA HELI ACFT PHOTO OP TOO CLOSE TO SPECTATORS AND BALLOONS DURING AN AIR SHOW BALLOON ACTIVITY.

Narrative

I WAS FLYING AN SMA HELI ON A PHOTO/VIDEO MISSION FOR A LCL TV STATION. THE EVENT WAS A HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL; START TIME TO BE XA00 HRS; AUG/XX/93. I ARRIVED AT THE LOCATION OF THE EVENT AT YY15 HRS; AND NONE OF THE BALLOONS HAD BEEN LAUNCHED AT THAT TIME. AFTER MAKING SEVERAL CIRCLES AROUND THE LARGE FIELD AND COMPLETING A HIGH RECONNAISSANCE; I SELECTED A LNDG AREA ACROSS A ROAD IN AN OPEN FIELD AND BEGAN MY APCH. AFTER LNDG; SPECTATORS CAME UP TO THE ROAD AND I DISPATCHED MY PHOTOGRAPHER AND PAX OUTSIDE OF THE ACFT FOR CROWD CTL. I SHUT THE ACFT DOWN AND PHOTOGRAPHER WENT TO THE AREA WHERE HOT AIR BALLOONS WERE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING INFLATED. SEVERAL SPECTATORS CAME TO THE HELI AND I OPENED IT UP FOR STATIC DISPLAY. A FIRE TRUCK CAME TO THE ROAD WAY; AND I TALKED TO THE DRIVER AND FIREMAN. WE AGREED THAT I WOULD TELL HIM UPON DEP FOR HIM TO ASSIST WITH CROWD CTL; AND HE AGREED. AS THE BALLOONS INFLATED AND DEPARTED; I INFORMED THE FIRE TRUCK THAT WE WERE DEPARTING. WE RAN THE ACFT UP AND DEPARTED THE AREA AWAY FROM THE CROWD AND CIRCLED THE HOT AIR BALLOONS THAT WERE AIRBORNE. THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE EVENT; I HAD NOT OPERATED THE ACFT IN ANY UNSAFE MANNER OR IN ANY MANNER THAT WOULD JEOPARDIZE THE SAFETY OF ANY OF THE SPECTATORS.