NMAC. PLT OF A NEWS MEDIA HELI BECAME DISTRACTED WHILE CIRCLING A POLICE ACTION SCENE AND DSNDED DOWN TO THE LEVEL OF POLICE HELI'S AT THE SCENE CAUSING A NEAR MISS.

Narrative

I WAS PILOTING A NEWS GATHERING HELI FOR A LCL LOS ANGELES TELEVISION STATION ON THE EVENING OF OCT/WED/00. I WAS FLYING NEAR DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES AND PROCEEDING TOWARD THE SE IN ORDER TO INTERCEPT THE PURSUIT OF A STOLEN VEHICLE THAT WAS RPTED TO BE EBOUND ON THE 105 FREEWAY. I WAS MONITORING THE LCL HELI COMMON TFC FREQ OF 123.025 AND HEARD THE POLICE HELI'S RPTING THEIR POS OVER THE PURSUIT. I BELIEVE THEY SAID THAT THEY WERE AT 700 FT MSL AND I MADE A MENTAL NOTE TO GET UP TO 1100 FT MSL AS I APCHED THE INCIDENT TO BE ABOVE THEIR ACTIVITY. I WAS AT 900 FT MSL AS I CONTACTED LOS ANGELES TWR AND GOT CLRNC THROUGH THE CLASS B AIRSPACE AT OR BELOW 900 FT MSL; AND E OF THE HARBOR FREEWAY. AS THE PURSUIT PROGRESSED TO THE E MY INTERCEPT COURSE TOOK ME FARTHER AWAY FROM LAX AND EVENTUALLY CLR OF THEIR SURFACE AREA. WHILE ENRTE I TALKED WITH ANOTHER NEWS HELI THAT WAS AT MY 3 O'CLOCK POS; AND ACKNOWLEDGED HIS CONTACT WITH ME AND THAT I HAD HIM IN SIGHT AS WELL. I SAW THE POLICE HELI'S AHEAD AT THE PURSUIT SCENE AND BEGAN A CLB TO ABOUT 1100 FT OR 1200 FT TO BE CLR OF THEIR ACTIVITY. AT ABOUT THIS SAME TIME; I BEGAN TO RPT FOR THE TELEVISION STATION ON THE AIR ABOUT THE PURSUIT AND ALMOST IMMEDIATELY THE CAR HAD A HEAD ON COLLISION WITH ANOTHER VEHICLE AND I BEGAN A R HAND ORBIT AROUND THE INCIDENT. I OBSERVED THE POLICE HELI'S BELOW ME AND I CONTINUED MY ORBIT WHILE RPTING ABOUT THE INCIDENT. AT SOME POINT IN THE ORBIT I ALLOWED MY ALT TO DROP AND I APPARENTLY GOT DOWN NEAR THE ALT OF ONE OF THE POLICE HELI'S; EVEN THOUGH I COULD STILL SEE OTHER POLICE ACFT BELOW ME. MY CAMERAMAN ADVISED THAT ANOTHER ACFT HAD JUST PASSED CLOSE TO US AND BEHIND; WHICH I DID NOT SEE. I IMMEDIATELY CHKED MY ALT AND REALIZED THAT I HAD DROPPED BELOW MY DESIRED ALT. I BEGAN AN IMMEDIATE CLB AND LISTENED UP ON THE COMMON FREQ AND HEARD A POLICE PLT ADVISE THAT THEY HAD JUST HAD A NEAR MISS WITH A HELI WITH A 'COMPANY' LOGO ON THE SIDE. I IMMEDIATELY RESPONDED THAT IT WAS ME; APOLOGIZED AND ADVISED THAT I WOULD CLB UP AND STAY CLR. I REMAINED OVER THE TFC INCIDENT FOR ABOUT 1 1/2 HRS AND THEN RETURNED TO MY BASE. ALONG WITH OTHER MEDIA ACFT OVER THE INCIDENT; I MADE OCCASIONAL POS RPTS OR ACKNOWLEDGED OTHER TFC; BUT HAD NO FURTHER COMS WITH ANY POLICE HELI'S THAT I RECALL. THEY ACTUALLY LEFT THE SCENE NOT LONG AFTER THE COLLISION. I WAS ADVISED THE NEXT DAY THAT THE POLICE DEPT HAD CALLED THE TELEVISION STATION LATE THE PREVIOUS NIGHT AND WAS VERY UPSET ABOUT THE INCIDENT. I CALLED AND SPOKE WITH THE POLICE PLT INVOLVED AND EXPLAINED WHAT I BELIEVED HAD HAPPENED AND WE TALKED ABOUT WAYS TO PREVENT FUTURE OCCURRENCES. I ACKNOWLEDGED THAT AS A PLT/RPTR MY WORKLOAD WAS SOMETIMES A BIT HECTIC AND THAT I HAD LET COVERING THE STORY DISTRACT ME FROM MY ALT AWARENESS. IT IS COMMON FOR US TO WORK OVER POLICE EVENTS IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA AND WE NORMALLY HAVE A SAFE AND PROFESSIONAL WORKING RELATIONSHIP. IN THIS INSTANCE I HAD INTENDED TO DO ALL THE RIGHT THINGS; BUT WAS DISTRACTED AND EVIDENTLY LET MY ALT CTL WANDER. I HAVE DISCUSSED THE INCIDENT WITH OUR CHIEF PLT AND TAKEN HIS ADVICE ON MAKING SURE THAT SAFETY IS PRIMARY AND THAT GETTING THE STORY OR THE PICTURES IS SECONDARY. I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT TO BE THE CASE; BUT WILL REDOUBLE MY EFFORTS TO ENSURE SAFE OPS. I WILL ALSO BE MORE DILIGENT IN COMMUNICATING WITH THE OTHER ACFT AND IN SETTING A PRACTICE OF GETTING WELL ABOVE THE OTHER ACFT WORKING A NEWS STORY WHENEVER I AM REQUIRED TO RPT AND FLY AT THE SAME TIME.