NBC News Helicopter Crashes in Los Angeles, Killing Three
Dashcam footage captures the aircraft's rapid descent prior to the fatal crash in Chatsworth.
Dashcam video from a driver in Los Angeles captured an NBC and Telemundo 52 news helicopter plummeting toward the ground moments before a fiery crash that killed three people.
The helicopter crashed in the Chatsworth neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley, killing NBC4 and Telemundo 52 reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw, and Edy Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground.
The aircraft went down near a storage facility and caught fire, with the blaze spreading to at least four vehicles and two storage containers. The incident occurred about two hours after a separate deadly collision involving an SUV and a city bus.
Police arrested the SUV's driver, 36-year-old Bailee Lynn Rios, on murder charges in connection with the earlier crash, which killed two people and injured six others. Authorities stated the SUV had been traveling the wrong way, ran a red light, and struck another vehicle before hitting the bus.
The cause of the helicopter crash is under investigation. Video broadcast from the helicopter before it went down captured an alarm sounding inside the aircraft as it began losing altitude. National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar indicated that the helicopter's final video footage could provide critical evidence, noting that the sounds captured appeared consistent with changes in engine speed and potential cockpit advisory tones.
The helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350 operated by Angel City Air, was used by NBC4 and Telemundo 52 for aerial news coverage. The NTSB is investigating both the helicopter crash and the earlier bus collision.