PLT OF A HUGHES 500 HELI; FOR THE NEWS MEDIA FLT; AROUND AND ABOVE A TEMPORARY RESTR AREA; COMPLAINT ABOUT THE LACK OF CTL OUTSIDE AND ABOVE THE RESTR AREA DUE TO MANY ACFT SIGHT-SEEING IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA.

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ON JAN/XX/97; AFTER A REQUEST FOR TV NEWS HELI FLT TO COVER THE FLOODED AREAS IN AND W OF MODESTO AND OVER MANTECA; CA; I CALLED THE FSS REQUESTING WX AND FDC NOTAM BRIEFING. THIS FSS BRIEFING VERIFIED THAT FDC NOTAM #7/017 FAR PART 91.137A(1) TEMPORARY FLT RESTR WAS STILL IN EFFECT IN THE AIRSPACE AT AND BELOW 1500 FT MSL WITHIN 10 NM RADIUS OF MANTECA ECA/VORTAC 185 DEG RADIAL AT 011 NM. MOST GA HELIS DO NOT HAVE OR USE VOR EQUIP BUT HAVE LORAN C AND/OR GPS RECEIVERS THAT USE GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES. TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE I DID NOT ENTER ANY FAR PART 91.137A(1) TEMPORARY FLT RESTR AREA ON JAN/XX/97 USING BOTH A LORAN C AND A GPS NAV RECEIVER. IN COMPLYING WITH THE PART 91.137 RESTR I WAS IN A SLOW ORBIT OVER MANTECA AT 1600 FT MSL WHEN IN THE SPACE OF ABOUT 3 MINS I HAD A BEECHCRAFT BONANZA GO UNDER ME; A SCHWEIZER 300C HELI GO RIGHT PAST ME; ANOTHER NEWS HELI ABOUT 150 FT ABOVE ME AND TO ONE SIDE; AND OTHER GA FIXED WING ACFT FLYING BY (SIGHT-SEEING?). I IMMEDIATELY LEFT THE AREA TO THE NW TO OUTSIDE OF THE RESTR AREA AND DSNDED TO A SAFE 500 FT AGL AWAY FROM THE FIXED WING TFC. THERE IS GOING TO BE A MIDAIR COLLISION CAUSED BY THE FACT THAT THE RESTRS; AS WRITTEN; CAUSE GA ACFT; NEWS HELIS; AND NEWS AIRPLANES TO CONGEST OVER THE SAME SPOT AND ALT WITHOUT ATC CTL. I HAVE FLOWN NEWS ACFT FOR OVER 25 YRS. PRIOR TO THE RESTRS; THE HELIS STAYED LOW AND THE AIRPLANES STAYED HIGH. THE REASON TO ALLOW ACFT CARRYING PROPERLY ACCREDITED NEWS REPRESENTATIVES INTO THE RESTR AREAS WAS TO FURNISH THE PUBLIC WITH INFO AND KEEP THE SIGHT-SEEING ACFT AWAY. WE NEVER HAVE PROBS GETTING INTO PART 91.137 TEMPORARY FLT RESTR AREAS WITH THE CDF OVER FIRES. THIS PROB ALWAYS ARISES OVER FLOODS WITH THE LCL POLICE DEPT/SHERIFF IN CTL. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO ALLOW ACFT THAT ARE CARRYING PROPERLY ACCREDITED NEWS REPRESENTATIVES A 'ONE-CALL ACCESS' TO FAR PART 91.137 TEMPORARY FLT RESTR DATA THAT INCLUDES THE GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES OF THE CTR OF THE AREA; ISSUANCE OF A FAR PART 91.137 CLRNC NUMBER; AND 'ON-SITE' RADIO FREQS TO BE USED PRIOR TO ENTERING THE RESTR AREA. THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME NEWS MEDIA ACFT ARE NOT BEING ALLOWED INTO THE RESTR AREAS AS PROVIDED FOR IN FAR PART 91.137.