SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter

A memorial stands at Phoenix Steele Indian School Park honoring four journalists killed July 27, 2007, when two news helicopters collided over the park. Arizona’s Family photo

On July 27, 2007, two Valley television news helicopters collided over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix. Four journalists aboard the two aircraft were killed. As in past years, an annual commemorative ceremony will be held at a memorial erected at the site at 12:30 p.m. Monday, July 27, 2026, with a moment of silence at 12:46 p.m., the approximate time of the crash. The public is invited.

Pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox of KTVK-TV, Channel 3, and pilot Craig Smith and photographer Rick Krolak of KNXV-TV, Channel 15, were killed when their helicopters collided while covering a police chase of a suspected criminal. No one else was harmed when the two aircraft fell to the ground.

The memorial is located at Phoenix Steele Indian School Park, Central Avenue and Indian School Road. Free parking is available just west of Herrera Way, which is the entry road from the park’s south entrance at 300 E. Indian School Road.