NBC Reporter’s Final Words Before Fatal Helicopter Crash That Killed Three

It began like an ordinary breaking-news assignment over Los Angeles.

NBC4 aerial reporter Eliana Moreno, 38, was aboard NewsChopper4 with pilot George Marciniw, covering a deadly crash involving an SUV and a Metro bus.

Then, suddenly, everything changed.

The helicopter began losing altitude. The camera inside the aircraft shook violently as the situation appeared to deteriorate.

In the final moments captured on the recording, Moreno could be heard asking the pilot:

“What? You can’t pull up?”

Moments later, the helicopter crashed in Chatsworth, bursting into flames and setting nearby vehicles on fire.

Moreno and Marciniw were killed, along with a third person on the ground. Another person was hospitalized.

The tragedy was especially devastating inside the NBC4 newsroom.

Veteran anchor Colleen Williams was live on air when the station confirmed that the aircraft was actually their own NewsChopper4.

Struggling through tears, she told viewers that the newsroom had lost contact with its crew and had just received confirmation of the crash.

The broadcast was eventually cut so the team could process the devastating news.

Moreno had spent years working in aerial journalism and was remembered as a respected reporter who loved the job.

She had once described aerial journalism as “the best job in the world.”

Federal investigators are now working to determine what caused the helicopter to crash.

The tragedy has left colleagues, viewers, and loved ones mourning a reporter whose career was spent bringing breaking news to people from above the city.

May Eliana Moreno, George Marciniw, and the third victim be remembered. 🕊️