The helicopter was in the air to cover a deadly crash. Minutes later it was the deadly crash. On the evening of September 15, NBC4 Los Angeles’s NewsChopper4 went down between two commercial buildings in Chatsworth while filming the scene of a fatal Metro bus collision, killing the pilot, the aerial reporter aboard, and a person who was simply standing in a parking lot below.
Where This Stands Right Now
- Three dead: pilot George Marciniw, aerial photojournalist-reporter Eliana Moreno, and a pedestrian on the ground whose name has not been released. At least two more people were taken to the hospital.
- The Los Angeles Fire Department logged the crash at 6:57 p.m. in the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue; the helicopter was fully engulfed when the first engine arrived.
- The aircraft, a 2004 Eurocopter AS350 flown for NBC4 and Telemundo 52, was covering a Metro bus crash nearby that had already killed two people.
- An NTSB investigator was due on scene Wednesday morning; the FAA is also involved. No cause has been given.
What Happened On Mason Avenue
Several TV helicopters were over the west San Fernando Valley on Tuesday evening, orbiting the wreck of a Metro bus and a passenger vehicle that left two people dead. Just before 7 p.m., one of them dropped out of the sky. LAFD’s first crew reported an unknown helicopter down between two commercial buildings with flames spreading toward parked cars. Firefighters went to an offensive attack on the fire and began triage. When the smoke cleared, two storage containers and four vehicles were burned, and three people were dead.
ABC7’s own helicopter crew, hovering over the same neighborhood, described the wreckage behind warehouses off Mason Avenue near the railroad tracks, with a separate container fire burning beside it. City police told the Los Angeles Daily News early on that the aircraft was a television station helicopter; NBC Los Angeles confirmed overnight that it was NewsChopper4.
The Two People In The Air
George Marciniw was a veteran pilot who grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974. Eliana Moreno, born in Orange County, earned her degree in broadcast journalism and political science from Chapman University in 2010 and had spent years reporting from the air for NBC4 and Telemundo 52. Colleagues at the station were on the air covering the bus crash when their own helicopter went down.
The Person On The Ground
The third victim was not in the helicopter and had nothing to do with the story it was covering. Officials say the person was in the parking lot where the aircraft came down. Their name is being withheld until family is notified. Two others near the crash site were hospitalized; their conditions had not been released Wednesday morning.
“This is a very, very, very tragic day in Los Angeles,” Mayor Karen Bass said, speaking about both crashes at once.
Deadly Helicopter crash In Chatsworth,Calif a Helicopter crashed near the scene of a Deadly bus crash in Chatsworth that killed 2 people and injured others,details of the Helicopter crash was a possible news chopper but not confirmed,possible lost of life in that crash.
— News Share @James (@bluemarble001) September 16, 2026
What Happens Next
The NTSB will lead the investigation, which typically produces a preliminary report within a few weeks and a final finding a year or more later. Investigators will look at the engine, the flight controls, and the airspace, which had multiple news helicopters working in close quarters over the bus crash. The AS350 is one of the most common news and tour helicopters in the country. Watch for the preliminary report, the identity of the pedestrian, and whether the FAA changes how many aircraft can stack up over a breaking-news scene.
Sources:
cnn.com, nypost.com, kesq.com, abc7.com
