While planes operate in heavily regulated paths, how come helicopters travel as they please without collision risk, e.g. copter cams following a car chase?
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Air traffic control here. Seems like the other users have given you a decent picture. Just wanted to throw in that when police helicopters get near the airport they call us up and we do our best to accommodate their requests but we do limit their movement when we need to. Since helicopters are able to stop moving forward though, they are some of the easiest traffic to work, and police pilots are some of the more trustworthy pilots out there (as in when you give them instructions they comply quickly and accurately) for whatever reason. Same goes for news helicopters. The exception to all of this is air ambulance helicopters. We are required to give them priority so we rarely restrict them. I always pretend someone I care about is onboard and will happily cut them right across my airspace.
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