Some basic aerial filming info for the non aviators interested in this sad incident.
There is a still image that shows the aircraft with the striped tail, with its left rear door fully open whilst at 5ft agl, apparently on take off and just a few minutes before the crash.
This indicates a cameraman in the back left seat, ready to film out of the open door.
Back left door is obviously not ideal for pilot's situational awareness if he is flying from front right..but for those that don't known, a sliding door is not always fitted on both sides.
This aircraft did not have a sliding door on the right (pilot) side.
It is pictured to the right of the other aircraft (the one with skid basket) both at time of take off and when airborne so it is reasonable to assume they were shooting.
Another reason to shoot out the left side is that the direction of travel can't always be controlled. Continuity of screen direction often dictates the aircraft must always be heading in the same direction i.e. left to right. Combined with wind direction and position of sun, it means the left hand side is the best option 50% of the time.
However for "jump in and go" flights, using cameramen who have been filming on the ground then jump into the helicopter, there is not enough time nor information to figure out which side is best.
Such flights that occupy a small time portion of a long shooting day, can be terribly pressured for pilot, director and cameramen, especially if the crew are running late.
IMO I observe the lower a/c being below, back and to the right of the higher a/c. It then climbs and banks into the overtaken a/c. This is a blind spot (albeit transiently) for the lower pilot.
I see something different... the higher aircraft seems to bank left into the path of the other aircraft, I reckon the (slightly) lower aircraft could have climbed maybe 50ft? in the two seconds before impact (use the tree as a datum point) Perhaps the plan was that the higher aircraft (filming out left door?) was to fly slightly ahead then over the subject aircraft? or in an attempt to shoot a tracking shot, the higher craft crept too close and the lower pilot didn't get out of the way in time and there was a miscommunication between the cameraman and pilots as to relative positions.
Hard to imagine that in the preceding 20 seconds that lower pilot was not aware of the others position? Whereas the higher aircraft would have been partially blind especially if camera crew were leaning into the open rear door and whoever was in the front seat also probably shooting or taking stills and blocking the view out of the left front.
(note it is not 100% clear yet which helicopter had the tv crew)
The higher aircraft appears to slow down, but this is the optical effect of the turn in my view.
Hard to be sure.
Generally the good form is that the subject aircraft stays straight and level and the camera ship manoeuvres around it.
Due to the high profile of some of those who perished and regardless of the cause, I hope that the unique risks of aerial filming will be bought to the fore and identified as an inherent risk that should be mitigated.
The crew who were killed were pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate, Brice Gilbert (cameraman) Laurent Sbasnik (director), Lucy Mei-Dalby (journalist), Volodya Guinard (project manager) and Edouard Gilles (sound engineer)
Brice leaves behind his wife of two years and son of two months.
Mickjoebill