Add The California Post on Google Spine-chilling photos show the wrecked NBC chopper that killed three people when it went down Tuesday — with the station’s logo laying burned and shredded on the ground.
The crash claimed the lives of NBC reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw, and pedestrian Edy Gutierrez Mejia.
Photos from the aftermath of the crash show the decimated remains of News Chopper4. Moreno and Marciniw worked together as a reporter-pilot helicopter crew for years.
It’s unclear why the helicopter crashed. Smoke and fire enveloped the crash site, which left no survivors. Firefighters needed to extinguish the large flames caused by the crash, which lit nearby vehicles ablaze.
The helicopter was in the air covering the scene of an SUV that had smashed into a city bus, killing two, Daniel Castillo and Gage Weida.
Moreno is heard planning out the shot for the bus in her final moments, which were caught on video.
“Can we plan our spot, George?” Moreno says at the beginning of the video.
“Can you… you can’t pull up?” Moreno says as the chopper shudders, causing the camera to shake. The video cuts out as the chopper rapidly descends.
Veteran helicopter reporter Zoey Tur believes the video from the crash appeared to capture signs of an engine failure shortly before the helicopter went down.
“If you listen, you could hear the low rotor RPM annunciator horn going off. You could also hear the engine rev down. This was an engine failure, and slow response into entering an auto -rotation by PiC. No survivors,” Tur wrote, noting in an accompanying post that she owned two similar helicopters.
The helicopter circled the area for about an hour before its fateful uncontrolled descent, according to flight data. The FAA told The California Post that it is investigating alongside the NTSB. The NTSB will lead the inquiry, they said.
A preliminary FAA accident report said three people died in the crash “UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES” and described a post-crash fire.
Tributes for Moreno and Marciniw have poured in since their tragic demise on Tuesday.
NBC LA reporter Robert Kovacik was caught on camera openly sobbing about the death of his colleagues shortly after the crash.
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