‘We’ve lost contact’: NBC4 covers its own helicopter tragedy with grief, purpose

The news team at NBC4 was covering the deadly collision involving a Metro bus in Chatsworth on Tuesday night when, just a few blocks away, a helicopter crashed.

There were several news choppers overhead that had been covering the bus accident.

For the next two hours, anchors and reporters covered the story while informing viewers of a grim fact: The station had lost contact with its Chopper 4 crew.

The journalists at times fought back tears as they reported what they saw. Several on the ground said they were overwhelmed by the support coming from first responders and fellow reporters.

California

At least 5 dead in helicopter crash and bus accident in Chatsworth. Driver arrested

A helicopter crashed into flames Tuesday night in Chatsworth, not far from a serious accident involving a Metro bus that left three people dead.

Sept. 16, 2026

Then at 9 p.m., veteran NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed what many viewers suspected.

“We received the confirmation that in fact News Chopper 4 went down just before 7 p.m. tonight in Chatsworth,” said Williams. “We’ve been piecing it together. We knew it was a news chopper. We knew we had lost contact with our people out there. Now we have confirmation.”

“We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process, and to regroup,” she added before ending the live broadcast.

Around 9:40 p.m. NBC resumed its live coverage, which included a news conference near the site of the helicopter crash.

Once the conference ended, anchor Williams said, “Our colleagues lost their lives this evening; they were in News Chopper 4.”

The helicopter team had been in the air covering the bus crash.

The anchor earlier described how the staff first learned of the tragedy.

The helicopter team of Eliana Moreno and George Marciniw was in the air covering the bus crash, and “we’re getting ready to go on the air with that ... and we see this large plume of smoke, and realize something else has happened.”

“Just a couple blocks away, our helicopter went down, it crashed,” Williams said.

“One person in the parking lot was killed, and two people on board the chopper also lost their lives. It’s just so difficult to comprehend.”

Moreno and Marciniw were referred to as “the eyes and ears in the sky,” according to NBC4. The pair first began flying together in 2023 and worked together to cover stories including police pursuits and the 2025 L.A. County wildfires.

Moreno was from Orange County and graduated from Chapman University with a degree in broadcast journalism and political science. She had been flying in news choppers since 2010. She was engaged to be married.

Moreno was known as “Eli in the heli” on Instagram and reported for NBCLA and Telemundo 52.

Marciniw also grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974, according to NBC4. He worked as a flight instructor for aspiring pilots.

According to a flight instructor profile, Marciniw was a helicopter flight instructor for more than 30 years and had flown 14,000 hours. His base was listed as Whiteman Airport in Pacoima and he was affiliated with Pacific Rotorways Helicopter Training.

Marciniw’s Facebook profile describes him as a pilot with experience in aerial filming, surveillance, flight instruction and helicopter management.

Helicopters are a vital part of news gathering in Southern California, helping chronicle brush fires, mass shootings and, of course, police pursuits.

The cause of the NBC4 crash is unknown.

NBC4 said the chopper was operated by Angel City Air.

The chopper went down between two commercial buildings in the 9100 block of Mason Avenue around 7 p.m.

KCAL reporter Desmond Shaw told anchor Pat Harvey about the horror of coming on the scene immediately after the crash.

“I just looked at it and I immediately knew what we were looking at,” he told Harvey.

He said he knew he had to put his emotions aside and report the story. He said his phone immediate filled with calls and texts from people checking on him,

“I am shell-shocked,” he said.

In 1977, Francis Gary Powers was killed in a helicopter crash in Encino while working as a “Telecopter” reporter for KNBC.

Powers and a KNBC cameraman, George Spears, were returning from covering brush fires north of Santa Barbara when the helicopter Powers was piloting crashed into an open field near the Sepulveda Dam, carving a 21-foot-long gouge in the ground and killing both men.

According to The Times’ archives, Powers was a “conservative flier” who, on his final flight, ran out of fuel.

Powers was a figure in Cold War history. While employed as a U-2 spy plane pilot for the CIA, Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960.

In 2000, a Fox 11 helicopter covering the Academy Awards crashed and burst into flames at Van Nuys Airport. The pilot reported mechanical difficulties moments before the crash in the southeast corner of the airport, The Times reported at the time. A television helicopter pilot from a competing station who overheard emergency radio transmissions from the helicopter said the craft was headed for the Shrine Auditorium just after 10 p.m. when the pilot reported a loss of hydraulic power.

At the end of Tuesday’s news conference featuring several local leaders, KNBC reporter Robert Kovacik, who was kneeling in the front row out of sight from the cameras, stood up and leaned over the tape line. A feed from KCAL-TV showed Mayor Karen Bass recognized him and came over and gave him a long hug.

L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes Chatsworth, and members of the Los Angeles Fire Department also could be seen speaking with and hugging Kovacik and other NBC4 journalists on the scene.

Times editorial assistant Jasmine Mendez contributed to this report.