LA Pilot: Five Seconds Could Have Saved NBC Helicopter

A Los Angeles helicopter pilot believes a five-second delay in responding to an emergency may have been the critical factor in the fatal crash of an NBC news chopper in Chatsworth on Tuesday. Zoey Tur, a pilot with over 10,000 flight hours and experience flying the same Airbus AS350 B2 model, analyzed video and audio from the incident.

According to Tur, the footage appeared to show a significant loss of rotor speed, indicated by a warning horn known as a klaxon. This horn alerts pilots to either low rotor RPM (revolutions per minute) or a loss of hydraulic pressure. Tur suggested the sound in the recording pointed to a rotor speed issue.

"You don’t want to hear any of these things when the horn goes off in flight because it means that you have just a second or two to lower that collective," Tur explained. The collective is a lever controlled by the pilot's left hand that adjusts the pitch of the rotor blades. Lowering it is a crucial step in autorotation, an emergency procedure where the rotor continues to spin from airflow rather than the engine, allowing for a controlled descent.

Tur stated that the warning horn could be heard for approximately five to six seconds in the available footage. "Five seconds of inaction is enough," she said. "You can even hear the pilot say, ‘Oh f***.’ He knew what a bad situation he was in at that point and was unable to recover from it."

She believes that a quicker reaction could have allowed the pilot to execute a survivable landing, even if it resulted in damage to the aircraft. Tur noted that hovering is a particularly demanding phase of flight, requiring more power and offering less time to react in an emergency.

The helicopter was covering a separate, earlier crash involving an SUV and a Metro bus when it went down. The accident claimed the lives of NBC4 and Telemundo 52 reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw, and pedestrian Edy Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground. The two separate incidents on Tuesday night resulted in five fatalities.

Tur stressed that her analysis is based on her experience and not an official finding by investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is continuing its investigation into the cause of the crash. Possible explanations Tur mentioned include the helicopter running out of fuel or a mechanical failure preventing fuel from reaching the engine.