A news helicopter used by NBC and Telemundo crashed and burst into flames in a Los Angeles neighborhood Tuesday evening, killing at least three people, including the pilot, a photojournalist and a person on the ground, while the crew covered a nearby fatal collision between an SUV and a city bus.
NBC4 Los Angeles anchor Colleen Williams confirmed on air that the station’s helicopter, NewsChopper4, went down just before 7 p.m. “We knew it was a news chopper, we knew we’d lost contact with our people out there, and we’ve just received the confirmation that, in fact, NewsChopper 4 went down just before 7 o’clock tonight in Chatsworth,” Williams said, her voice breaking with emotion before the broadcast cut away.
Fire Battalion Chief Rico Gross said three people were dead at the scene and two others were taken to the hospital in unknown condition. Fire Capt. Branden Silverman said one of the deceased appeared to be a pedestrian on the ground at the time of the crash.
What We Know So Far
NBC Los Angeles identified the two victims aboard the helicopter as Angel City Air employees Eliana Moreno, an aerial photojournalist familiar to viewers of NBC4 and its Spanish language sister station, Telemundo 52, and pilot George Marciniw. According to the station’s own reporting, Moreno was born in Orange County and graduated from Chapman University in 2010 with a degree in broadcast journalism and political science before joining Angel City Air’s helicopter team the same year; Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School. A separate wire account attributed both the Chapman University degree and Burbank High School graduation to Moreno alone in a single sentence, an apparent conflation of the two victims’ biographical details that does not match the more detailed, individually sourced account NBC Los Angeles published about its own employees.
The helicopter crashed in a parking lot near a self storage facility in Chatsworth, in the San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Silverman said fire and police personnel already stationed nearby rushed to the scene after the crash was reported shortly before 7 p.m. and found the helicopter engulfed in flames that had spread to nearby parked vehicles. At least four cars and two storage containers on the ground burned before firefighters extinguished the blaze. More than 70 firefighters responded, and dozens of police vehicles surrounded the scene as ambulances arrived.
The helicopter crash occurred roughly two hours after a Los Angeles Metro bus and a passenger vehicle collided on Nordhoff Street. The fire department said that crash happened at 5:03 p.m., killing at least two people and injuring six others; photos and video showed half the SUV lodged into the side of the bus. Multiple television news helicopters, including NewsChopper4, were covering that collision when the crash occurred a short distance away.
Witness Zareh Sevanesian said he was driving nearby with his wife, Allyona, when he noticed the helicopter’s unusual descent. “As we were driving I looked over to my left. I saw the helicopter — something didn’t look right. And I told my wife, ‘That helicopter is not flying right,'” Sevanesian said. He described watching the aircraft gradually lose altitude before pulling over near the crash site as fire spread rapidly. “It was one of the most violent fires I had ever seen,” he said, adding that he found one person down near the wreckage and three others screaming uncontrollably. Allyona Sevanesian said the scene was terrifying and sad for everyone who witnessed it.
Angel City Air, which operated the helicopter and describes itself as a full service aerial production company, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. NBC4 and Telemundo 52 said in a joint statement that they were deeply saddened by the crash and extended condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who died.
What Authorities Are Saying
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, speaking near the scene Tuesday night, called it a heartbreaking night for the city and praised first responders for their quick action. “We lost five Angelenos today, and my heart certainly goes out to the family and friends of all of those that we lost,” Bass said, referring to the combined toll from both the bus collision and the helicopter crash.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom thanked emergency crews responding to both crashes and offered condolences in a post on the social media platform X, saying his thoughts were with the victims, their families and the entire NBC4 team.
Why This Matters
The crash adds to a documented pattern of fatal accidents involving news helicopters in the United States, with at least eight such crashes recorded since 2000, killing 16 people, according to a review of federal accident records and news accounts. Past incidents include a 2023 crash in a New Jersey forest that killed a pilot and photographer working for Philadelphia station WPVI, and a 2022 crash beside a Charlotte, North Carolina, interstate that killed a pilot and meteorologist during a training flight for WBTV.
The fact that Tuesday’s crash occurred while the crew was actively covering breaking news, a task that regularly requires low altitude maneuvering in populated areas, underscores the inherent occupational risk faced by aerial news crews, even though the specific cause of this crash remains under investigation. The additional death of a bystander on the ground further illustrates how these accidents can extend harm beyond the aircraft’s own crew to uninvolved members of the public.
What Happens Next
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said investigators would arrive Wednesday to begin examining the cause of the crash. No preliminary findings have been released.
The conditions of the two people hospitalized following the crash remained unavailable as of the latest reporting. Investigations into both the bus collision and the helicopter crash are continuing, and further details are expected as authorities complete their initial assessments of each incident.
Reporting drawn from the Associated Press and NBC Los Angeles
