The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary findings Tuesday in the Chatsworth news helicopter crash.
The September NBC LA helicopter crash killed news reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw, and a bystander, devastating a local news community that had relied on the longtime air news crew for years. NTSB investigators stopped short of naming a definitive cause in the early report but detailed how the aircraft went down with striking specificity. Live video from the helicopter itself proved crucial to the investigation and was cited repeatedly throughout the agency’s findings.
The crash occurred as the news chopper covered a separate incident in the Chatsworth area, an SUV-Metro bus collision that had drawn aerial coverage. The helicopter went down near that crash site, compounding an already chaotic scene. The bystander killed was a tourist in the vicinity, bringing the death toll to three.
Moreno and Marciniw were well known among Los Angeles television journalists. Colleagues described Moreno as a “ray of sunshine” in the newsroom, a veteran reporter who had spent years delivering breaking news from above the city’s sprawling freeway network. Marciniw, her pilot, had similarly logged extensive hours navigating LA’s congested airspace for news operations.
The NTSB’s preliminary report relied heavily on the helicopter’s own broadcast feed, which continued transmitting as the aircraft faltered. Investigators noted that this live footage provided valuable evidence of the sequence of events leading to impact. The footage showed the chopper plunging to the ground before bursting into flames, images that circulated widely in the immediate aftermath and that the agency now references in its official documentation.
The report’s release comes as the local news community continues mourning the losses. The crash shocked a tight-knit corps of aerial journalists who often share airspace and coordinate coverage of major incidents across the sprawling metro area. Moreno and Marciniw had been fixtures of that community, their deaths leaving a noticeable absence in LA’s competitive breaking-news ecosystem.
Federal investigators typically issue preliminary reports within weeks of major crashes, with final determinations often taking a year or more as analysts examine mechanical records, weather data, pilot communications, and air traffic control interactions. The NTSB has not indicated when it expects to complete its full investigation into this incident.
The Chatsworth crash drew international attention, with footage of the burning wreckage and the eerie circumstance of a news crew perishing while covering another emergency. The collision between the SUV and Metro bus that originally drew the helicopter’s attention resulted in its own injuries and damage, though none fatal.
The NTSB did not identify mechanical failures, pilot error, or environmental factors as primary concerns in this preliminary release, leaving the ultimate cause undetermined pending further analysis. The agency’s investigators continue examining wreckage, maintenance logs, and the pilot’s recent flight history.