Update — September 16, 2026: NBC4 and Telemundo 52 have now confirmed that the helicopter that crashed was NewsChopper4, operated by Angel City Air. KNBC subsequently identified aerial journalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw as the two people aboard who were killed. A third person was killed on the ground. The earlier Metro bus collision that the crew was covering also ultimately killed three people after Metro said the SUV driver died at a hospital. (Telemundo 52)
A second development deserves careful attention without being turned prematurely into a crash theory. An FAA airworthiness directive covering pre-2023 AS350B2 helicopters became effective September 10, five days before the accident. It addresses an incorrectly installed engine flange on the main-gearbox engine coupling that the FAA says could, if uncorrected, interrupt power transmission to the main rotor. The directive allowed operators 165 flight hours or 13 months to perform the inspection, however, and there is currently no evidence establishing that this condition existed on NewsChopper4 or contributed to the crash. Whether the aircraft had already been inspected is also not publicly established. (FAA AD Search)
The most important questions therefore remain unresolved: the FAA or NTSB had not yet publicly confirmed N358TV as the accident aircraft when this update was reviewed, and investigators have announced no probable or preliminary cause. (Aviacionline)
Three people died after the television news helicopter crashed in Chatsworth on Tuesday evening while covering a separate fatal collision involving a Metro bus.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department incident update, the helicopter went down at 6:57 p.m. at 9151 North Mason Avenue, between commercial buildings. The resulting fire damaged four automobiles and two storage containers but did not spread to surrounding structures.
LAFD’s written incident alert assessed four patients: three were pronounced dead at the scene and one was transported to a hospital. The Associated Press later quoted LAFD Battalion Chief Rico Gross as saying two people were transported, so the nonfatal-patient count in the earliest reporting is not completely reconciled. (AP News)
What is considerably clearer now than it was when this article was first published is who operated the helicopter and who was aboard.
What remains unknown is why it crashed.
What happened in Chatsworth?
The helicopter crash was the second deadly emergency to unfold in Chatsworth within roughly two hours.
At 5:03 p.m., firefighters responded to a collision between a Metro Line 166 bus and an SUV near Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue. LAFD initially reported eight patients: two dead at the scene and six transported to hospitals.
Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo later said the SUV driver died at a hospital, bringing the collision’s death toll to three. (MyNewsLA.com)
Several television news helicopters arrived to cover that scene.
At 6:57 p.m., LAFD received the separate report of a helicopter down on Mason Avenue. First-arriving firefighters found the aircraft between commercial buildings with fire involving nearby vehicles and storage containers.
The sequence created an extraordinarily grim situation: a news crew dispatched to document one fatal accident became involved in a second fatal accident nearby.
What is confirmed—and what is not?
The evidence has changed materially since the first hours after the crash.
| Claim | Current status |
|---|---|
| A helicopter crashed at 9151 N. Mason Avenue at about 6:57 p.m. | Confirmed by LAFD |
| Three people died in the helicopter crash | Confirmed |
| Two people aboard were killed | Confirmed by KNBC |
| They were aerial journalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw | Confirmed by KNBC |
| A third person killed was on the ground | Confirmed by LAFD/NBC4 |
| The aircraft was NewsChopper4 | Confirmed by NBC4 and Telemundo 52 |
| NewsChopper4 was operated by Angel City Air | Confirmed by NBC4 and AP |
| The crashed aircraft was N358TV | Strongly indicated, not yet formally confirmed by FAA/NTSB |
| A new FAA main-gearbox coupling directive applies to pre-2023 AS350B2s | Confirmed |
| The directive’s underlying condition existed on this helicopter | Unknown |
| The helicopter suffered an engine or drivetrain failure | Not established |
| The final video proves a particular mechanical failure | Not established |
| Investigators have determined the cause | No |
NBC4’s confirmation and subsequent identification of Moreno and Marciniw eliminate two of the largest uncertainties in the original version of this article. (Los Angeles Times)
The remaining distinction is equally important: knowing which operation and crew were involved does not tell us what failed.
Was this NBC4’s NewsChopper4?
Yes. This is now confirmed.
NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed during the station’s live coverage that NewsChopper4 had gone down, after the newsroom initially reported that it had lost contact with its aerial crew.
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 subsequently issued a joint statement confirming that the helicopter provided aerial coverage for both stations. Telemundo 52 separately identified the crashed aircraft directly as NewsChopper4. (Telemundo 52)
NBC4 also confirmed that the helicopter was operated by Angel City Air.
That matters because “NBC4 helicopter” describes its journalistic role; it does not necessarily describe its legal owner or aircraft operator.
Why are people calling it both an NBC and a Telemundo helicopter?
Because both descriptions are substantially correct.
NewsChopper4 supplied aerial news coverage for NBC4 Los Angeles and Telemundo 52 Los Angeles. Telemundo had used the NewsChopper4 name openly in previous aerial reporting, and after the crash the two stations explicitly confirmed their shared use of the helicopter. (Telemundo 52)
So the competing descriptions circulating online—“NBC helicopter,” “NBC4 helicopter” and “Telemundo helicopter”—do not represent different aircraft.
They reflect the same shared aerial news-gathering operation.
Who were Eliana Moreno and George Marciniw?
KNBC has now confirmed that Eliana Moreno and George Marciniw were the two people aboard NewsChopper4 who died.
Moreno was a familiar aerial journalist and voice during NBC4 and Telemundo 52’s helicopter coverage. She had been working in aerial news coverage since 2010.
Marciniw was the helicopter’s pilot. NBC4 said Moreno and Marciniw had been flying together since 2023.
Both were employees of Angel City Air, according to NBC4 and the Associated Press. (Los Angeles Times)
The third person killed was on the ground in the parking area when the helicopter came down. That person’s identity had not been publicly released in the authoritative sources reviewed for this update.
This replaces the original article’s caution about names circulating on social media. Those two crew identities are no longer speculative.
Was the crashed helicopter N358TV?
N358TV remains the strongest publicly identified candidate, but the distinction between evidence and formal accident identification still matters.
The FAA aircraft registry entry for N358TV identifies it as a 2004 Eurocopter AS 350 B2, serial number 3788, registered to Tiny Bubbles Aviation Inc. in Pacoima.
Historical aircraft records, photographs and open-source tracking have long associated N358TV with NBC4’s NewsChopper4 operation.
More importantly, public ADS-B tracking recorded N358TV operating as NewsChopper4 over the Chatsworth area on September 15 before the crash. GTLA AirWatch recorded it beginning an extended presence near Chatsworth at approximately 5:30 p.m. (GTLA Live)
Specialist aviation reporting has likewise identified N358TV as the believed accident aircraft while noting the absence of an early official registration confirmation. (Aviacionline)
Taken together, the circumstantial case is strong.
But the responsible formulation remains:
Public evidence strongly indicates that N358TV was NewsChopper4 that evening. The FAA or NTSB should still be the source for the definitive accident-aircraft identification.
That distinction should become easy to resolve once federal investigators publish the aircraft information.
A newly effective FAA directive deserves scrutiny—but it does not establish the cause
This is the most important new technical information uncovered since the article was first published.
On September 10, 2026, the FAA’s Airworthiness Directive 2026-16-01 became effective for a large group of Airbus/Eurocopter helicopters, including AS350B2 aircraft manufactured before May 15, 2023. (FAA AD Search)
If N358TV is formally confirmed as the crashed aircraft, its 2004 manufacture date and AS350B2 model would place it within that broad applicability definition.
The reason for the directive is technically significant.
The FAA said there had been reports of an incorrectly installed engine flange on the main-gearbox engine coupling. The concern was an inverted installation. According to the FAA, an uncorrected condition could result in loss of power transmission to the main gearbox and main rotor and potentially loss of control.
That language understandably sounds relevant to a helicopter that subsequently crashed.
But several facts prevent us from moving from relevance to causation.
First, the directive did not say that every AS350B2 had the defect. It created an inspection requirement designed to identify aircraft on which the engine flange had been incorrectly installed.
Second, it was not an immediate grounding order.
The incorporated EASA directive requires the one-time inspection within 165 flight hours or 13 months, whichever comes first, after the directive’s effective date unless the inspection had already been performed. If an incorrect installation is found, corrective action is required before the next flight. (EASA Safety Publications Tool)
Therefore, an affected U.S. helicopter could legally have continued operating after September 10 while still inside the compliance window.
Third—and most importantly—we currently do not know whether NewsChopper4’s engine coupling had the condition described by the directive, whether it had already been inspected, whether the relevant components had previously been replaced, or whether anything involving the main-rotor drivetrain contributed to this accident.
The FAA itself noted during rulemaking that many helicopters may have had engines or main gearboxes replaced over their operating lives, which is one reason the agency applied the rule broadly rather than attempting to identify only aircraft believed to retain original components.
So this directive belongs in the investigation.
It does not belong in a headline claiming that the FAA had already warned about the cause of the NewsChopper4 crash.
The evidence does not support that conclusion.
The question worth asking now is much narrower:
What do the aircraft’s maintenance records show about AD 2026-16-01, its main gearbox, engine coupling and any previous inspections or component replacements?
That is precisely the kind of question NTSB investigators can resolve.
What does the final live feed actually tell us?
The final live transmission remains potentially important evidence.
A recording circulating online preserves the last portion of NewsChopper4’s aerial coverage before the feed ends. Viewers have focused on apparent changes in aircraft movement, sound, warning tones and what can be heard from the crew.
Those observations may eventually prove useful.
They do not establish a cause.
A video recording may help investigators reconstruct approximate movement, timing, aircraft attitude and the sequence in which abnormalities became apparent.
It cannot, by itself, tell us the actual rotor RPM, engine output, hydraulic pressure, flight-control condition, fuel state, exact cockpit indications, drivetrain condition or whether a warning was the cause of the emergency rather than a consequence of it.
That distinction becomes even more important now that the FAA airworthiness directive has surfaced.
It would be very easy to take an audible warning in the video, combine it with an unrelated-but-plausible mechanical concern in the AS350 family, and construct a seemingly coherent explanation.
A coherent theory is not the same thing as evidence that the theory happened.
Do we know that the engine failed?
No.
No federal investigator has established an engine failure.
Nor has the FAA or NTSB announced a hydraulic failure, drivetrain failure, main-gearbox failure, fuel problem, bird strike, rotor failure or any other particular initiating event.
That remains true despite the newly discovered FAA directive.
The directive makes the condition something investigators should examine. It does not prove that the condition existed on this helicopter.
Aviation accidents are particularly vulnerable to premature explanations because many different emergencies can produce superficially similar final moments.
A helicopter descending unexpectedly does not automatically mean its engine stopped producing power. Rotorcraft can descend because of engine problems, drivetrain problems, control-system failures, aerodynamic conditions, deliberate emergency maneuvers or combinations of events.
The NTSB’s investigative process includes examination of wreckage, components, maintenance records, flight information, witness evidence and other technical data before investigators determine probable cause.
The NTSB has said an investigator is expected at the Chatsworth scene Wednesday. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Until that work begins producing factual findings, a specific mechanical diagnosis remains premature.
Does this crash show that helicopters are unusually dangerous?
It shows something much narrower:
Helicopter accidents remain possible even in professional operations using sophisticated aircraft and experienced crews.
It does not establish the accident rate for news helicopters, the cause of this accident, or the risk associated with an unrelated helicopter flight.
We recently examined that distinction in detail in How Often Do U.S. Military Helicopters Crash? The Real Data Behind Training Accidents.
That investigation found that military helicopters do suffer serious noncombat accidents, sometimes at troubling rates. It also explains why military Class A mishap statistics cannot simply be transplanted onto civilian operations: the missions, definitions, aircraft, flight profiles and exposure are different.
The same caution works in reverse.
A catastrophic civilian news-helicopter accident should not be treated as evidence that every military, police, medical, utility, tour or private helicopter operation carries the same level of risk.
The broader U.S. civilian helicopter safety trend had actually been improving before this accident. FAA data put the 2024 fatal-helicopter accident rate at 0.45 per 100,000 flight hours, the lowest in 25 years.
Those statistics do not minimize what happened in Chatsworth.
They prevent one extraordinary accident from becoming an unsupported statistical conclusion about an entire category of aviation.
The AS350 connection does not establish a cause either
If N358TV is formally confirmed, the accident aircraft would be an AS350 B2, part of the widely used Airbus/Eurocopter Écureuil or AStar family.
The model matters because investigators can compare the wreckage, maintenance history and components against type-specific service information and airworthiness directives—including the newly effective engine-coupling directive.
But identifying a model is not the same as identifying a failure.
The AS350 family has accumulated an enormous operating history across law enforcement, news gathering, utility operations, tourism, emergency work and private aviation.
Every widely operated aircraft type will eventually have accidents caused by different combinations of mechanical, operational, environmental and human factors.
The proper sequence is therefore:
Determine what happened to this helicopter, then determine why.
Not:
Find a known problem affecting similar helicopters and assume it happened here.
The ground fatality makes this accident especially consequential
One fact separates this accident from a crash affecting only an aircraft’s occupants.
A person on the ground was killed when NewsChopper4 came down.
NBC4 has now confirmed that Moreno and Marciniw were the two fatalities aboard, while LAFD confirmed the third death occurred on the ground. (Los Angeles Times)
News helicopters routinely operate over populated metropolitan areas because the incidents they cover—wildfires, police pursuits, major collisions and disasters—occur there.
That creates a risk extending beyond the people who choose to board the aircraft.
It remains far too early to conclude that this accident justifies eliminating conventional news helicopters or replacing them wholesale with drones. Helicopters can travel substantial distances, remain airborne for long periods, reposition rapidly and carry equipment that present small-drone operations cannot simply duplicate under current regulatory and operational constraints.
But if investigators ultimately identify a preventable mechanical, maintenance or operational failure, the death of a person on the ground will necessarily form part of the safety discussion.
That debate should follow the investigation.
It should not get ahead of it.
What investigators need to establish next
The aircraft registration remains one immediate question.
Confirming N358TV would allow the aircraft’s maintenance and component history to be tied definitively to the accident rather than inferred from tracking data.
That is now particularly important because investigators can determine whether the main gearbox or engine coupling had been replaced, whether the newly effective FAA directive had already been complied with, and whether the physical configuration implicated by the directive was present on this particular aircraft.
Investigators can also compare the wreckage against the final video and audio, available flight-tracking data, maintenance records and the observations of crews in the other news helicopters that were operating nearby.
The presence of multiple other aircraft over the scene may ultimately prove valuable because those crews could have observed NewsChopper4’s final movement from perspectives not captured by its own camera.
What investigators find may support one of the mechanical theories now circulating.
It may contradict them.
At this point, both possibilities remain open.
The bottom line
NewsChopper4 crashed in Chatsworth at 6:57 p.m. on September 15, 2026, while covering a separate collision involving an SUV and a Metro bus.
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 have now confirmed that NewsChopper4 was their shared aerial-news helicopter and that it was operated by Angel City Air.
KNBC has identified aerial journalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw as the two people aboard who died. A third person was killed on the ground. (Los Angeles Times)
Public flight-tracking and aircraft records continue to point strongly toward N358TV, a 2004 Eurocopter AS350 B2, but sherafy.com is retaining the distinction between a strong open-source identification and formal FAA/NTSB confirmation. (Aviacionline)
There is also now an important new technical question.
An FAA airworthiness directive that became effective five days before the crash applies broadly to pre-2023 AS350B2 helicopters. It addresses an incorrectly installed engine flange on the main-gearbox engine coupling that could, in an affected aircraft, interrupt power transmission to the main rotor.
That fact is real.
Its connection to this crash is not established.
The directive allowed a substantial compliance period, and no public evidence currently establishes whether NewsChopper4 had the condition, whether it had already been inspected, or whether the drivetrain played any role in the accident. (FAA AD Search)
The final live feed may likewise become important evidence.
It is not a probable-cause report.
The strongest conclusion remains essentially the same as it was when this article was first published, although we now know much more about who and what was involved:
There is enough evidence to reconstruct much of what happened. There is still not enough evidence to say why it happened.
References and Further Reading
Crash and victim confirmation
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 — Statement on the Chatsworth helicopter crash The stations’ joint confirmation that a helicopter providing aerial coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 was involved in the fatal accident.
Los Angeles Times — NBC4 reports on the crash of its own news helicopter Detailed late-evening reporting documenting NBC4’s confirmation of NewsChopper4, Eliana Moreno and George Marciniw, Angel City Air’s operating role and the ground fatality.
Associated Press — Three killed when NBC and Telemundo news helicopter crashes Independent reporting corroborating the crew identities, Angel City Air operation, ground fatality and federal investigation.
Los Angeles Fire Department — Aircraft Crash Incident #1526 Primary response record for the crash location, initial casualty count, fire damage and federal investigative handoff.
Aircraft and technical investigation
FAA — Airworthiness Directive 2026-16-01, Airbus Helicopters The newly effective U.S. directive covering AS350B2 and related helicopters. It addresses possible inverted installation of an engine flange on the main-gearbox engine coupling.
EASA — AD 2023-0127, Main Gear Box Engine Coupling Inspection The European directive incorporated by the FAA rule. It establishes the one-time inspection requirement of 165 flight hours or 13 months and specifies corrective action if an incorrect installation is discovered.
FAA Aircraft Registry — N358TV Official registration information for the aircraft strongly associated with NewsChopper4. The registry establishes the aircraft’s model and serial number but is not, by itself, an accident-identification record.
Aviacionline — KNBC-TV news helicopter crash in Chatsworth Specialist aviation reporting identifying N358TV as the believed aircraft while preserving the distinction between open-source identification and official confirmation.
GTLA AirWatch — Helicopter activity over Chatsworth on September 15 Public ADS-B-derived tracking showing N358TV/NewsChopper4 operating over the area before the accident. Useful corroborating evidence rather than a substitute for NTSB identification.
National Transportation Safety Board — The Investigative Process Explains how the NTSB develops factual findings and ultimately determines probable cause.
Related Chatsworth collision
MyNewsLA — Three dead after SUV crashes into Metro bus in Chatsworth Reports Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo’s confirmation that the SUV driver later died at a hospital, raising the road-collision toll from the two deaths initially reported at the scene to three.
Broader helicopter-safety context
sherafy.com — How Often Do U.S. Military Helicopters Crash? The Real Data Behind Training Accidents Our broader analysis of helicopter accident statistics and why military mishap rates cannot be treated as civilian-helicopter risk statistics.
Editorial currency note: This remains an active federal aviation investigation. The highest-priority future updates are formal FAA/NTSB identification of the aircraft, NTSB factual information from the wreckage, maintenance and AD-compliance records, and any preliminary finding concerning the engine, main gearbox, rotor-drive system or flight controls. The FAA directive discussed above should not be described as causally connected to the accident unless investigators establish that connection.
