The September 11 Attacks - Chet Wilson's footage with Melinda Murphy (editor's cut)

This video contains the files « WPIX Dub4 01.avi » to « WPIX Dub4 17.avi » which have been released to the public by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I added additional footage which was released through NIST FOIA #09-42 request, and which is not available on NIST's cloud server.Show more

Aerial footage from news helicopter Air 11, produced by a WPIX-TV (WB11) news crew, covering a total of almost 6 ½ hours. Air 11 was the only news helicopter that was allowed to stay airborne into the afternoon. The majority of the video is raw footage, other clips are from the live coverage and may include short clips shot by other videographers. Please be advised that both the video and the audio streams are temporarily broken, but continue, most frequently during the last hour. This was part of the problems on that day, and is reflected in the video. Also, to protect privacy, I redacted three telephone numbers that were audible.

The WPIX-TV Air 11 helicopter crew :
Videographer: Chet Wilson;
Reporter: Melinda Murphy;
Pilot: Ray Rivera;
Camera: Sony BVP-570 with a Canon 1000mm lens in a UltraMedia III camera ball from Flir Systems;
Helicopter: Bell 206-L3, S/N 51430, Tail number (Registration) N311WB;
Locations: Departure from Heliport West 30th Street (near Pier 66), Manhattan, NY, thereafter primarily over the New Jersey Turnpike, New Jersey, NJ;
Time: 09h08:39 a.m. - 03h33:59 p.m. EDT, September 11, 2001.

00:00:16 »» Flight # 1 - raw footage, ~09h08:39 - ~10h42:19 p.m. EDT;

»» 00:00:16 »» Air 11 engine start-up (camera not yet rolling) @ ~09h08:39 a.m.;

»» 00:00:58 »» Air 11 airborne West 30th Street Heliport, Manhattan @ ~09h09:21 a.m.;

»» 00:06:30 »» Melinda Murphy live on WPIX @ 09h14:53 a.m. EDT;

»» 00:50:35 »» South Tower (2 WTC) collapse @ 09h58:58 a.m. EDT;

»» 01:19:59 »» North Tower (1 WTC) collapse @ 10h28:22 a.m. EDT;

Fuel stop at Linden Airport, Linden, NJ

01:34:02 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~11h30:26 - ~11h30:33 a.m. EDT;

01:34:14 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~11h35:54 - ~11h38:01 a.m. EDT;

01:36:26 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~11h33:59 - ~11h34:54 a.m. EDT;

01:36:55 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~11h40:48 - ~11h45:16 a.m. EDT;

01:41:29 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~12h03:59 - ~12h04:54 p.m. EDT;

01:42:29 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~12h09:37 - ~12h11:21 p.m. EDT;

01:44:18 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~12h19:52 - ~12h27:43 p.m. EDT;

01:52:15 »» Flight # 2 - WPIX live broadcast, ~12h30:09 - ~12h38:16 p.m. EDT;

Fuel stop at Linden Airport, Linden, NJ

02:00:27 »» Flight # 3 - WPIX live broadcast, ~02h04:53 - ~02h09:36 p.m. EDT;

02:05:15 »» Flight # 3 - WPIX live broadcast, ~02h16:46 - ~02h20:54 p.m. EDT;

02:09:29 »» Flight # 3 - raw footage, ~02h24:04 - ~03h33:59 p.m. EDT;

»» 02:43:31 »» Melinda Murphy live on WPIX @ 02h58:06 p.m. EDT with live stream suddenly breaking whilst she was on air;

»» 03:10:15 »» Melinda Murphy live on WPIX @ 03h24:50 p.m. EDT;

»» 03:18:50 »» Air 11 overflying Newark International Airport @ 03h33:25 p.m. EDT, en route to Linden Airport, Linden, NJ for landing.

I refrain from digital image manipulation. In my opinion, any so-called 'enhancement', as observed in similar video creations elsewhere, is tampering with evidence. I consider this video document as material evidence in the disaster investigation. My objective is to use as much raw footage as ever available for a highly authentic document, and to avoid edited material if possible. I also conserved artifacts 'as is', and interruptions of the video/audio stream, and my FOIA patches may have encountered earlier compression losses.
However, I adapted all footage to NTSC standard (SD), doubled the frame rate to 59.94 fps (60000/1001), and tried to restore the audio, if possible, when necessary. Though working with mostly uncompressed footage, this online version is presented in the HEVC/H.265 video compression format.

There are more aerial pictures by Chet Wilson that were broadcast during WPIX' live coverage. I excluded those from the video, because they were tiny inset windows, sharing the TV screen with pictures in two or even three other windows.

This video has been created for exclusively educational, non-profit purposes. The usage of commercial footage shall be regarded under the conditions of 17 U.S. Code § 17 (Fair use).
Dedicated to the lives lost on September 11, 2001, and in the aftermath of that day. May they rest in Peace.
Thank you for taking the time to inform yourself.