New video obtained by NBCLA showed the final seconds before a news helicopter crash Tuesday night that killed the two-member crew and a person on the ground in Chatsworth.
The video from a nearby camera provides a brief view of part of the descent of the helicopter, which had been hovering over an intersection to provide coverage of a deadly collision involving a SUV and Metro bus. Reporter Eliana Moreno, 38, helicopter pilot George Marciniw and 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground, died in the chopper crash.
The video from a nearby building emerged a day after federal safety investigators, who removed crash wreckage from the site Thursday as part of the investigation, asked anyone with video from the scene of the crash to contact witness@ntsb.gov. A former NTSB air safety investigator who reviewed the new video said it may be part of what leads investigators to answers about what went wrong.
The video captured the Eurocopter AS 350 B2 lose altitude before it crashed in the parking lot of a self-storage business. Flames and thick smoke can be seen rising from behind a building that obstructed the camera’s view.
Emergency responders can be seen arriving soon after.
“I think the video will be helpful to investigators,” said NBC News aviation analyst Jeff Guzzetti, who teaches at the USC Viterbi Aviation Safety and Security School. “I see a very high rate of descent. That is going to be helpful for investigators.”
Guzzetti, who also reviewed a separate video and audio recorded during live coverage over the bus crash, said engine failure will likely be a focus of the NTSB investigation.
“But then you have to answer the question, why did the engine fail? Was it starved of fuel? Was there some sort of mechanical malfunction?”
Video taken during live coverage of Tuesday’s crash will play a key role in the investigation, NTSB Investigator-in-Charge Fabian Salazar said. This video was broadcast on the NBC4 News at 1 p.m. on Sept. 16, 2026.
Smoke appears about 20 seconds after impact, and the first flames are seen about 50 seconds after the crash. Guzetti was asked whether the fire seen in the video captured from the camera on the nearby building suggests the helicopter still had enough fuel.
“I think it rules out the fact that it was fuel exhaustion,” Guzetti said. “I think there was plenty of fuel on that helicopter. However, it could be a system issue that didn’t allow the fuel to get into the engine.”
Live coverage video will be key to investigation, NTSB says
The NTSB said the live coverage video from Tuesday afternoon in the moments before the crash will be a key part of the investigation, providing a clearer picture of what happened. Speaking at a news conference near the crash site in the San Fernando Valley, National Transportation Safety Board Investigator-in-Charge Fabian Salazar said tones were generated in the helicopter cockpit that serve as advisories to the pilot.
The recording also picked up what sounded like changes in speed before NewsChopper4, owned and operated by Angel City Air, went down in a parking lot near a storage business.
“That piece of video indicates that something went wrong, suddenly, during the flight,” Guzzetti said “The helicopter appeared to be hovering in a stable position, and then you hear this winding down noise… but that’s followed by a very clear warning horn, which is likely the low rotor RPM warning horn.”
NBC4 anchor and reporter Jonathan Gonzalez, who grew up watching NewsChopper4 from Burbank, shares personal stories with late aerial reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw. Jonathan Gonzalez reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026.
“You actually see the helicopter begin to descend and go a little bit nose-low, and that would be consistent with an auto-rotation landing.”
Auto-rotation is when the rotor blades of an aircraft turn through the action of air moving up through the rotor, not through the engine.
NTSB investigators arrived Wednesday morning to begin fieldwork, including examinations of the crash site and the wreckage. The wreckage of the helicopter will eventually be moved to a secure facility for further examination, Salazar said.
In addition to the wreckage, NTSB will also look at maintenance logbooks, weather, and pilot’s training.
The NTSB also said its investigation will include witness interviews. One witness told NBCLA that the chopper appeared to “sway” before losing altitude.
“Something didn’t look right,” said witness Zareh Sevanesian. “And, I told my wife, that helicopter’s not flying right. It was swaying and all of the sudden it started losing altitude. It just kept getting lower and lower and lower and lower.”
Sevanesian said he lost sight of the helicopter among buildings.
The NTSB usually releases a preliminary report within 30 days of a crash. A final report can take months or years.
Born in Orange County, Moreno was a 2010 graduate of Chapman University where she earned a degree in broadcast journalism and political science. She joined the Angel City Air helicopter team in September 2010 and has reported for several Southern California media outlets.
Marciniw grew up in Southern California, a 1974 graduate of Burbank High School.
In the hours that followed, messages of support were shared. Outside the NBCLA/Telemundo 52 studios in Universal City, flowers and balloons were left on the station’s logos. At the crash site in Chatsworth, a bouquet of roses was placed on a chain-link fence. More items in remembrance of the victims were left at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, where the helicopter was based.
The tragedy comes nearly 50 years after Francis Gary Powers was killed in a helicopter crash in Encino while working as a “Telecopter” reporter for KNBC. Powers and cameraman George Spears died in the crash. They had been covering brush fires northwest of Los Angeles when their helicopter went down in a field near the Sepulveda Dam.