Looking for references to the term "Helicopter"

Factual Questions
1

There was a story I heard a while back about how whenever a particular journalist would send articles to his editor, the editor would always make some sort of gratuitous change just to feel productive. After a while, the journalist started inserting obviously wrong things into his articles just so the editor would have something to correct and leave the rest of his article alone.

For some reason, I remember this being called a “helicopter” but I’m having real trouble finding any reference to it on the internet.

Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

2

I do. I’ve heard the same story, or something very similar. While I can’t recall the specifics, I think I heard that story here, as in one of the SDMB posters did that.

A brief search of the archives didn’t turn up anything.

3

Try post 36 here http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463466&highlight=helicopter. And there are subsequent comments on that post downthread.

4

Here’s where I first mentioned it (post #21)

One more time (post #6) This one starts off about a writer and his/her editor, so you may be conflating the OP with the term.

And most recently (post #36)

Basically, it was a film producer who’d include an actual helicopter in his budget requests (for aerial shots), with the intention of defusing a busybody editor.

5

Ah cheers!

It was starting to drive me nuts, friends said I hallucinated the entire affair.