Bjean - You are almost certainly right. Sometimes there is a mechanical failure. Thanks for your comments.

My husband was a military pilot for years and I've heard many conversations about plane crashes......bottom line is the helicopters crashed because of pilot error..very sad but thats the truth

Laurie - Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

I have to pretty much agree with the majority here, the criminal car jacker shouldn't be held responsible for the helicopter crash deaths. I mean if they were hovering over a mountain rescue of a fallen hiker on Squaw Peak Mountain, then crashed midair, would the fallen hiker be charged for the deaths of 4 men? No, of course not! However, I have lived in Phoenix for 39 years and I know that the Media Choppers very often help out the Phoenix Police in many situations, and have successfully followed many "chases" where if it wasn't for the News Chopper the situation could have been horrific! Phoenix is a HUGE city now, and if you recent residents think that its all about "voyerism", then maybe you need to go live in L.A. or D.C or even Miami and see how the media reacts to Crime situations there! It is the publics right to know what is going on where they live. Thank God this crash happened and ended where it did and no one else was involved or hurt! COULD have would have or ALMOST did doesn't make one bit of difference here folks. Troy, how many hours of flying time do you have under your belt? You continue to refer to the crash, and how the "Pilots" violated the FAA regulations, and how they should have known better and "failed to perform their proper duties". I don't know where you read all that in the article you provided the link to? I didnt read that in that article! The NTSB never said any of that. The only thing they said were the facts and what eye witnesses said. These 2 pilots were very good pilots. Especially, the channel 3 pilot, he trained many many many pilots here and all over the country how to fly helicopters. By the way it has looked all along, the ch.3 chopper did nothing wrong! The ch.15 chopper started to move and move into the ch. 3 chopper. So please dont accuse both pilots of error or failing in their flying duties, when you really dont know what you are talking about. Flying a helicopter or flying anything is nothing like driving on a Highway, bad example!

Troy - You are 110% correct. Thanks for your comments and the link.

It is complete NONSENSE that the suspect be charged in these deaths. I have taken flying lessons, and one of the first things ANY potential pilot learns is that it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to look out for other aircraft (See and avoid)! It is even part of the Federal Aviation Regulations. They KNEW that there were other aircraft in the vicinity, but failed to perform their primary duty-- FLYING THE AIRCRAFT! This accident was tragic, yes, but it was due to PILOT ERROR, not the actions of someone on the ground. The chase may have contributed to the accident, but only in the way that seeing a car crash on the opposite side of the highway contributes to YOU getting into an accident yourself.... YOU took your eyes off the road to look at it and failed to notice you were drifting into the other lane and hit another vehicle. The PILOT does NOT need to pay that close attention to the chase, that's what the REPORTER is there for. The Pilot needs to find a place in the sky NOT occupied by other aircraft, THEN he can find a better vantage point... not go to a "better view" before making sure someone else isn't there first! The NTSB does have a preliminary report on the web, and the end of the report mentions the applicable regulations. HAD the pilots somehow survived this accident, they likely would have been held responsible for the crash, as they violated these regs. Link to the report: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20070802X01089&key=1 Again, I'm not saying this isn't tragic, but the pilots were the ones flying the helicopters, so they are ultimately responsible for getting back on the ground safely.

McGee - You're 100% correct. Christopher Jones should be charged with evading arrest, unsafe driving and a host of other charges. He should NOT be charged with anything to do with the deaths of those 4 in the copters. Thanks for your comments.

It looks like the whole issue is still up in the air. This morning's Arizona Republic says that Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas "will wait for more information before it decides to charge Christopher Jermaine Jones, 23, in the deaths of the four journalists who perished in the crash." The legal issues probably boil down to whether or not the events were reasonably foreseeable, that is, whether or not the truck thief could have reasonably foreseen that his theft would lead to helicopter coverage, and that those helicopters would crash into each other. Hmm, sounds even sillier when I put it that way. The original statements that the thief could face criminal charges related to the deaths had come from Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris after the crash, not from anybody in the Attorney General's office. That said, I still wouldn't put it past them to try.

I agree with McGee. The suspect should be charged if he caused something dangerous on the ground. But its not his fault that the networks have decided that voyerism is the new "reporting". Those helicopters had nothing to do with his crime and therefore he had nothing to do with those deaths.

I really don't like criminals...I detest them. But it's absolutely ridiculous to charge this idiot with killing the people in the helicopter. While he certainly could have killed some unsuspecting person on the ground and been rightfully charged for that, nobody forced these helicopters to fly around chasing the story. They chose to put themselves in danger. It's absurd.

My condolences to the families of those killed last Friday. I would hope that this tragedy encourages a change in the practice of "chopper" chasing. This crash came dangerously close to landing on the roof of my home, not to mention a hospital in the Central Phoenix corridor. Multiple tragedies and sad beyond words.

I didn't know that. All of the photos are relatively close up. So, you have the impression that the copters crashed in a wide open field far away from everything. Thank for the info.

I agree 100%. And does anybody realize how close these choppers came to crashing right into a VA hospital?

100% correct!!!