A growing memorial at Whiteman Airport in Chatsworth has become a focal point for grief after a news helicopter crash killed reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw and a man on the ground.
The NewsChopper4 aircraft went down shortly before 7pm on Tuesday, 15 September, in a parking area in the 9100 block of Mason Avenue while Moreno and Marciniw were covering a separate fatal collision involving a Metro bus and an SUV.
The helicopter was an Airbus AS350 B2 operated by Angel City Air for NBC4 and its Spanish-language sister station, Telemundo 52. The Los Angeles County medical examiner identified the third victim as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia.
By Friday, flowers, candles and handwritten messages had gathered around the empty helipad where the aircraft was based. Community members said they wanted to honour those who died and support the families and colleagues left behind.
“It’s a little something I can do,” Ferni Emmel said at the memorial. “They’re going to be really, really missed by so many. So many.”
New video examined in helicopter crash investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board has moved into the next stage of its investigation, examining the wreckage, witness accounts and newly surfaced video of the aircraft’s final moments.
The footage appears to show the helicopter slowly losing altitude before it struck the ground. Investigators have said video evidence could prove important in establishing what happened in the seconds before the crash.
Veteran helicopter pilot and former aerial reporter Zoey Tur, who reviewed the recording, said the rotor blades appeared largely intact. In her assessment, that could indicate the aircraft was no longer producing power when it hit the ground.
“You can see two helicopter blades,” Tur said. “They’re greenish-blue and they’re almost entirely intact, and that tells me that the aircraft was not producing power at the time it struck the ground.”
Her comments do not represent a formal finding, and the NTSB has not determined the cause of the crash. The agency’s investigator in charge has cautioned against speculation while the preliminary work continues.
The crash followed a separate collision at the intersection of Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue, where two people died. The helicopter crew had been providing live coverage from above when contact with the aircraft was lost.
As the wreckage is cleared from the crash site, the memorial at Whiteman Airport continues to grow. Colleagues and residents say the messages left there reflect the lasting impact of the three victims on the Chatsworth community.
