Federal investigators say live broadcast footage from inside a crashed NBC news helicopter is the most crucial evidence they have recovered so far as they work to determine what caused the fatal crash in Los Angeles.
NTSB investigator-in-charge Fabian Salazar told reporters at a Wednesday press conference that the recording captured during reporter Eliana Moreno’s live coverage is “probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far.” The NewsChopper4 went down shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday in Chatsworth while hovering above the aftermath of a deadly collision between an SUV and a Metro bus.
The Airbus AS350 B2 crashed between two commercial buildings at 9151 Mason Ave., killing Moreno, 28, pilot George Marciniw, and a third person on the ground, 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia. Two others on the ground were injured — one hospitalized with an apparent panic attack, another taken to a hospital in grave condition. The crash also sparked a fire that damaged four vehicles and two storage containers.
Salazar said the agency wants a “pristine copy” of the recording for sound-spectrum analysis at its laboratory.
“In that recording, we are clearly hearing sounds that are consistent with the engine changing its speed, and we’re also hearing tones that are being generated that are likely advisories to the pilot,” Salazar said at the press conference.
The video itself shows the camera zooming out before several alarms sound as the helicopter begins its descent. Then Moreno can be heard asking, “You can’t pull up?”
The helicopter is not believed to have carried a flight data recorder, intensifying the importance of the broadcast footage as investigators reconstruct the final moments. Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti, speaking at the same NTSB press conference, said the alarm heard in the clip sounds like a low-rotor-RPM warning — a signal that the main rotor is no longer spinning fast enough to maintain flight.
“It just has all the earmarks of a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed,” Guzzetti said.
But investigators are not calling that the cause. The NTSB and FAA are examining the wreckage and interviewing witnesses. Investigators will also seek surveillance footage from nearby buildings and review the helicopter’s maintenance logbooks, weather conditions and Marciniw’s training records. The wreckage will later be moved to a secure facility for further examination.
The helicopter was operated by Angel City Air and provided aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52. Moreno and Marciniw were both employees of the company.
Salazar said a preliminary report is expected in about 30 days, while a final report identifying probable cause could take up to 18 months.
The crash occurred as the crew covered a fatal SUV-versus-Metro bus collision on the ground below. That earlier chain-reaction crash, which involved an SUV smashing into a Metro bus, had drawn the news helicopter to the scene and set in motion the events that led to three deaths and multiple injuries in a matter of hours.
The NTSB has mapped out a long road ahead for the full investigation.