If memory serves, "Chopper One" played in the half-hour before ABC's "Firehouse." Those were my two favorite shows at the time. I couldn't tell you whether the show was actually good, but it was probably on par with every other cop show (except maybe "The Rookies"). I was a much less critical viewer at age 9.
Although I haven't seen an episode since they first aired, I still have memories of them: At the beginning of one episode, for example, the chopper lands with a kite tangled in the rotor blades; Mitch calls it a "five-cent disaster" or some such colorful term. In (another?) episode, the chopper is hijacked by bad guys. Foley stays on the ground while Burdick flies the chopper; in an attempt to psyche out the bad guys, one of the cops says, "Engine goes out on a chopper, you drop like a rock." At the climax, the chopper flies behind a hill and there's a huge explosion. Foley subdues his bad guy and it turns out that Burdick cleverly dropped an external fuel tank to fake a crash. Classic.
Although I haven't seen an episode since they first aired, I still have memories of them: At the beginning of one episode, for example, the chopper lands with a kite tangled in the rotor blades; Mitch calls it a "five-cent disaster" or some such colorful term. In (another?) episode, the chopper is hijacked by bad guys. Foley stays on the ground while Burdick flies the chopper; in an attempt to psyche out the bad guys, one of the cops says, "Engine goes out on a chopper, you drop like a rock." At the climax, the chopper flies behind a hill and there's a huge explosion. Foley subdues his bad guy and it turns out that Burdick cleverly dropped an external fuel tank to fake a crash. Classic.