3 people killed in news helicopter crash while covering LA bus collision

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A news helicopter used by NBC and Telemundo crashed in a Los Angeles neighborhood and burst into flames, killing three people while reporters were covering the collision of an SUV and a city bus, officials and the news outlet said.

NBC4 Los Angeles reported that two people aboard the helicopter — Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw — were killed Tuesday when the chopper went down. Another person was killed on the ground, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

The helicopter crash happened as news crews were reporting on a collision from earlier in the day when an SUV slammed into the middle of a city bus, killing at least two people and injuring six others. Photos and videos online showed half the SUV lodged in the side of the bus.

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There were no immediate details on what may have caused the helicopter to crash. But an alarm can be heard sounding inside the helicopter's cockpit as it loses altitude in the final video the crew broadcast live before the crash. Just after the beeping noise starts, a woman's voice says "uh oh." The helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and goes down. The woman says "You can't pull up?" before the video stops as the chopper nears the ground.

The helicopter went down near a large storage facility in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, officials said. At least four cars and two storage containers on the ground burned after the helicopter caught fire, which was quickly put out, according to officials. NBC4 reporter Robert Kovacik was at the bus scene and saw black smoke and rushed to the helicopter crash site. Dozens of police cars surrounded the scene as ambulances entered.

Two people were brought to a hospital, said Rico A. Gross, a fire department battalion chief. Their conditions were not immediately released.

The station's website identified the dead aboard the helicopter as Moreno, a familiar voice for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 during the station's aerial coverage, and Marciniw. Both were employees of Angel City Air, which operated the chopper.

Moreno, born in Orange County, joined the Angel City Air helicopter team in 2010, the same year she earned a broadcast journalism and political science degree from Chapman University. She reported for several Southern California news outlets and began flying with Marciniw in 2023, the NBC4 website said.

Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974.

"I think a lot of us are still trying to process what happened, this terrible loss," NBC4 reporter Lauren Coronado said during a newscast early Wednesday. She was standing near the crash site during the newscast and said a hazmat crew was cleaning up jet fuel.

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In a tribute to Moreno and Marciniw, the newscast referred to them as "the team in the sky," saying Moreno would often post videos from her job and was in awe of the view she had.