According local news reports from Wednesday, it almost came to a mid-air collision between an Austrian Police helicopter and a TV helicopter over Festspiele Bregenz (Lake of Constance), where the German ZDF broadcasting company organized a public viewing of the Euro 2008 matches on the lakeside stage (ZDF Arena). Due to conflicting information from the involved persons, the local state attorney is now investigating the case.
During the multi-day event a ZDF TV helicopter carried out filming work over the area and was issued a permit to land and take off from a nearby soccer stadium. At the day in question, a second German helicopter was used to ferry politicians to the same landing area for a publicity event organized in the neighboring Casino Bregenz. The third helicopter, run by Austrian Police (OE-BXK), had apparently no legitimate reason (other than "routine inspection") to be over the area and almost caused a catastrophic mid-air collision.
According to the reports on the local online portal vol.at, the incident took place at 20:25 on Monday 16 June 2008, just minutes before the match between Germany and Austria. A German helicopter working for the TV show came as close as 100 meters (330 feet) to the Austrian police helicopter carrying out a "routine inspection" over the public event. Witnesses on the ground spoke about 10 meters (33 feet) and a very spectacular maneuver.
The report stated that the pilot of the police helicopter brought the ship into a hover directly over a marquee filled with hundreds of soccer fans, allowing the co-pilot or passenger to take better photographs of the event's main stage. The complete area was probably visited by up to 10,000 spectators. Other than routine inspection, no reasonable explanation was given for the police flight over the area, and now numerous citizens are asking the same question: was the police flight a legitimate one or rather for the entertainment of the involved police officers?
In follow up news, the media outlet reported that the police helicopter pilot assumed no further helicopter was in the air once he received word from the headquarters that the TV film crew is on the ground. In a statement from the Ministry of Interior, which is operating the police helicopter fleet, it was admitted that the operation permit was given to the German helicopter, but the authorities didn't have any procedure in place to inform police pilots of the other helicopter in the area.
Rather mysterious are the reported details of the close call. The police helicopter approached the area with two people on board and slowed down, so the person next to the pilot could take nice photographs. Both men were focused at the public viewing below at that moment. At the same time, the red TV crew helicopter, with 4 persons on board, took off from the soccer stadium which is only 100 meters (330 feet) away from their current location, and apparently approached them from behind. Only using a daredevil maneuver could the police pilot avoid being hit from behind from the TV helicopter, with all crew and passengers also focused on the public viewing below. It was reported that the pilots of the TV helicopter didn't even know about the close call until a day later, when the police pilots called them up. That's the version that was initially reported and apparently came from interviews with the police officers in OE-BXK.
The occupants of the TV helicopter on the other hand, including the Managing Director of the hosting company (Festspiele Bregenz), reported a different story to the investigating state attorney. He occupied the right seat behind the pilot and said that they flew already two rounds and were at about 100 meters (330 feet) above the lake in straight and level flight, when he saw the police helicopter approaching from behind at the right side. He also heard the co-pilot informing the pilot about the approaching police helicopter. "The police helicopter then changed course to the right and below us, you could say that this was a very close call", he stated to the media.
Location Google Maps:
bregenz festspiele - Google Maps
Video of the ZDF Arena Event showing the stage:
YouTube - Bregenz: EM 2008 Deutschland - Österreich
(if you have any details of the tail numbers of the other involved helicopter, please let me know)