IN THE SKY, ON THE AIR.

Helicopter coverage of major news events is de rigueur these days for local TV stations in hot competition for viewers. Crashes, chases, blazes - few big events escape the chopper treatment.

But the use of choppers by Los Angeles news teams actually dates back more than 40 years. Here's a brief history:

1953: KMPC pilot/reporter Max Schumacher pioneers helicopter traffic reports for the radio station.

1958: KTLA uses a helicopter to photograph Los Angeles Harbor. The copter then hovers above a truck and electric cable is suspended between the two to transmit pictures.

1965: KTLA's use of a helicopter during the Watts riots convinced other stations to get on board.

1966: Schumacher is killed when his helicopter collides with a police copter near Dodger Stadium.

1977: Francis Gary Powers, a former U-2 spy plane pilot shot down over the Soviet Union, is killed when his KNBC-TV helicopter crashes in an Encino field after running out of fuel.

Feb. 10, 1992: Heavy rains trigger a flash flood that leaves dozens of motorists stranded in the Sepulveda Basin. The event marks a turning point in TV chopper reporting, as helicopters equipped with expensive steadycams capture gripping images, leaving reporters without such a system in the dust.

April 29, 1992: Copters hovering above the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues broadcast the gripping, graphic beating of truck driver Reginald Denny at the height of the L.A. riots. KCBS pilot Robert Tur, who captured the images, later testifies in the trial against Denny's assailants.

Nov. 2, 1993: Helicopters track the path of a fast-moving brush fire that races from Calabasas to the sea, torching dozens of expensive homes in its path.

Jan. 17, 1994: Gripping aerial images of the Northridge Earthquake's devastation - including a broken section of Interstate 5, the fallen Northridge Meadows apartments and the collapsed Northridge Fashion Center - are broadcast round the world.

June 17, 1994: The nation is riveting by television chopper coverage of O.J. Simpson's now-famous slow-speed drive, with police in pursuit, along L.A. freeways.

April 1, 1996: TV choppers broadcast the beating of illegal immigrants by Riverside County sheriff's deputies after an 80-mile high-speed chase. The videotape sparks outrage from the Southland's immigrant community.

Feb. 28, 1997: The North Hollywood shootout coverage triggers cries for both gun control and for better arming of police officers.