the years
You've probably heard of the Kingston
Trio, the Three Musketeers, and Moe,
Larry, and Curly.
But how many of you remember the trio
of Gobla, DeCosmo, and Dennis?!
All right...maybe we weren't so famous. But
we were a team!
For several years Bob Gobla was our pilot
when WYOU had Chopper 22. And it's a
a good bet the late Bob Dennis was the
photographer and I was the reporter on most
of its missions!
I used the helicopter when ever possible
and it really paid off! We'd go out on one
specific story/ But between our portable
police scanner and what we could see from
Chopper 22's glass cockpit we'd come back
with 3 to 5 extra reports!
Gobla was a super pilot. And he wasn't
a guy to take any chances.
Once, seconds after take off, we heard a
"rapping" sound on the outside of the
cabin. He immediately landed in the
nearest field to find out what was
happening. Gobla checked one side while
Bob Dennis looked at the other. I stayed
put which turned out to be a good thing.
Had I joined the search they never would
had spotted the belt from my trench coat
hanging out side the door where, once
airborne, the wind rapped it against the
chopper!
On another occasion we had just
completed a story at Knoebels Amusement
Park and had started our flight back to
Wyoming Valley.
Bob Gobla asked me if I had done any
of my story on the roller coaster.
I explained that, while I loved flying,
I didn't like roller coasters.
Bob said he understood. It was the "dips"
I didn't like. Then...he did one....in the
chopper!
My stomach left it's usual spot while
Bob Dennis, who was sitting in the back
seat, suddenly looked a little white to me!
I never mentioned roller coasters to
either Bob again!
Helicopters, of course, eventually got
too expensive for most Television
stations and WYOU's Chopper 22 and
WNEP'S Skycam 16 are both now just
memories.
For me, at least, they're good ones.
I live right below what has become
the flight path for medical choppers
coming and going from Geisinger
Medical Center in Luzerne County.
I often think of Chopper 22 and
our News trio whenever I hear them
overhead!
Bob Gobla is celebrating his
birthday today. I hope it's a great one
and that all of his...and your
NEWS is good!
I flew with Bob a number of times myself, some of the highlights of my career. I remember the first time. A silver reclamation plant in Nanticoke burned and the town was evacuated. They lifted the evac about 4 p.m. and I was sent up with Bob to do a traffic report because they expected problems. Only problem was, I did not not Nanticoke very well. Thankfully there were no problems to report. whew! Another time, either Thanksgiving or Christmas the only doctor I could find to interview was at Geisinger in Danville, so Chopper22 was our vehicle. Halfway there it started to snow, Bob asked me if we should head back. I left it to his discretion, he was the pilot afterall..lol. We headed back and could see the clouds closing over the mountain. We put down in a snowstorm at the hangar at WhiteHaven and he drove us back to Scranton in his son's Mustang. Not the best vehicle in snow...lol.
ReplyDeleteI miss those days.