Newly released video captures the frightening final seconds before a news helicopter plunged from the sky Tuesday night in Chatsworth, killing its two-person crew and a man on the ground.
Obtained by NBCLA from a nearby building, the footage shows the Airbus helicopter hovering above an intersection before it suddenly loses altitude and drops toward the ground.
The helicopter had been covering a fatal collision involving an SUV and a Metro bus when it crashed into the parking lot of a self-storage business.
Reporter Eliana Moreno, 38, and pilot George Marciniw died in the crash, as did 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground at the time.
The Radio & Television News Association of Southern California said its board and members were mourning Marciniw and Moreno, a Golden Mike Award–winning aerial journalist known to NBC Los Angeles and Telemundo 52 viewers—and to her many followers—as “Eli in the heli.”
For 16 years, the association said, Moreno covered Southern California from the air, reporting on wildfires, police pursuits and countless breaking-news events with the steadiness and dedication that earned viewers’ trust across the region.
The video provides only a limited view of the helicopter’s descent, as a building obscures its final moments. Flames and heavy smoke, however, erupt from behind the structure after the impact, and emergency crews arrive shortly afterward.
The footage was released as federal investigators examine whether the helicopter experienced an engine or other mechanical failure.
The video also appears to indicate that the aircraft did not simply run out of fuel.
Smoke becomes visible about 20 seconds after the impact, followed by the first flames approximately 50 seconds after the crash.
A candlelight vigil took place Thursday night at St. John Eudes Parish in Chatsworth to remember Moreno, Marciniw and Gutierrez Mejia.
The NTSB is asking anyone who recorded video at the crash scene to share it as investigators reconstruct the helicopter’s final moments.
Pieces of the aircraft were placed on a truck and taken to a specialized facility in Phoenix, Arizona, where investigators will examine the wreckage as they work to determine the precise cause of the crash, NBC reported.
