An NBC4 news helicopter plunged between two commercial buildings in Los Angeles Tuesday evening while covering a separate crash nearby, killing both crew members and a pedestrian on the ground.
The helicopter, known as NewsChopper4 and operated by Angel City Air for NBC4 and its Spanish-language sister station Telemundo 52, went down at 9151 N. Mason Ave. in the Chatsworth neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley just before 7 p.m. on September 15, 2026. The aircraft had been providing aerial coverage of a Metro bus and SUV collision in the same area when it lost altitude and crashed between two commercial buildings, Fox News reported. The impact sparked a fire that damaged four vehicles and two storage containers, though no nearby structures were exposed to the blaze.
Three people were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth was transported to a local hospital in unknown condition. More than 70 Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters responded.
Angel City Air identified the two crew members killed as aerial photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw. Moreno, who graduated from Chapman University with a degree in broadcast journalism and political science, joined Angel City Air's helicopter team in 2010 and had been flying with NBC4 since around 2018 or 2019. Marciniw, a Southern California native who graduated from Burbank High School, had logged more than 14,000 hours in the helicopter.
The third victim was a pedestrian standing in the parking lot when the aircraft came down. LAFD Capt. Branden Silverman confirmed the pedestrian's death but authorities had not publicly identified the individual. The identity and status of the fourth person taken to the hospital also remained unclear.
Silverman described the wreckage in stark terms. The helicopter, he said, was "quite destroyed."
The crash unfolded on live television. NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed on air that the station's own helicopter had gone down. She told viewers through tears:
"We have lost contact with our people."
Williams added moments later:
"We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, process it."
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 released a joint statement shortly afterward:
"We are deeply saddened to share that a helicopter providing aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 was involved in a fatal accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives."
Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration announced they would investigate the cause of the crash. Each agency said it planned to send an investigator to the scene on Wednesday. No preliminary cause has been identified, and the agencies offered no indication whether mechanical failure, pilot error, weather, or some other factor played a role.
Several other television news helicopters were in the Chatsworth area at the time, all covering the same Metro bus and SUV collision that had drawn NewsChopper4. That separate crash killed at least two people and hospitalized multiple others. Whether the concentration of aircraft over the same scene contributed in any way to the helicopter's loss of altitude remains an open question for investigators.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement mourning the victims of both incidents. She called the combined toll painful:
"I'm absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth tonight. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash."
The AP reported Bass also said that "losing five Angelenos is very painful", a reference to the combined death toll from both the bus collision and the helicopter crash.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released his own statement:
"Our hearts are with the victims and families of tonight's devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth, and with the entire NBC4 family. Thank you to the first responders working tirelessly tonight."
The twin disasters left a single neighborhood grappling with five deaths in a matter of hours, a bus crash that drew the cameras, and a helicopter crash that killed the people behind them. Moreno spent sixteen years covering stories from the sky over Los Angeles. Marciniw had more than 14,000 flight hours to his name. A pedestrian who happened to be standing in a parking lot never saw it coming.
The investigators will sort out the cause. What is already clear is the cost, borne by the families of three people who went to work Tuesday and did not come home.
