Three killed in crash of news chopper during report on fatal bus crash

A news helicopter crashed Tuesday in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles while the pilot and a television news reporter were assisting in the coverage of a fatal bus crash. The NBC4 chopper’s crash killed three and injured two, according to Rico Gross, a fire department battalion chief. The earlier collision between a metro bus and a passenger vehicle killed two and injured six, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The helicopter unexpectedly went down between two commercial buildings around 7 p.m., according to the fire department. The impact sparked a fire that damaged storage containers and vehicles. The two aboard the helicopter, reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw, perished, according to NBC Los Angeles. Firefighters said the crash also killed one person on the ground.

The National Transportation Safety Board would lead an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.

The NTSB said the chopper was a Eurocopter AS 350 B2 model. A federal rule applying to that helicopter model came into effect just five days before the crash, requiring an inspection to determine whether its engine flange had been installed upside down. The Federal Aviation Administration received reports of incorrectly installed flanges, which could cause loss of power to the main rotor of the helicopter, the NTSB said.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on a recent fatal bus crash in South Africa.