Add The California Post on Google The final seconds aboard a doomed NBC4 news helicopter could hold the key to answering what led to a deadly Los Angeles crash — and federal investigators say the recording is their “most important evidence” so far.
“The video that was actually taken while the reporter was doing live coverage, that video is probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far,” NTSB investigator-in-charge Fabian Salazar said at a press conference Wednesday.
The NewsChopper4 went down shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday in Chatsworth as reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were hovering over the scene of a deadly SUV-versus-Metro bus collision.
The Airbus AS350 B2 crashed between two commercial buildings at 9151 Mason Ave., killing Moreno and Marciniw.
A third person on the ground, 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, was also killed.
Now investigators are listening closely to what happened inside the cockpit before the chopper fell.
The video shows the camera zooming out before several alarms sound as the helicopter begins its descent.
Then Moreno can be heard asking, “You can’t pull up?”
Salazar said the NTSB wants a “pristine copy” of the recording so it can be subjected to a sound-spectrum analysis at the agency’s laboratory.
“In that recording, we are clearly hearing sounds that are consistent with the engine changing its speed, and we’re also hearing tones that are being generated that are likely advisories to the pilot,” Salazar said at the press conference.
The helicopter is not believed to have had a flight data recorder, putting an even brighter spotlight on the video recording as investigators try to reconstruct the final moments.
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm heard in the clip sounds like a low-rotor-RPM warning, a signal that the main rotor is no longer spinning fast enough to keep the helicopter in the air.
“It just has all the earmarks of a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed,” Guzzetti said at the NTSB press conference.
The NTSB and FAA are examining the wreckage and interviewing witnesses.
Investigators will also seek surveillance footage from nearby buildings and review the helicopter’s maintenance logbooks, weather conditions and the pilot’s training.
The wreckage will later be moved to a secure facility for further examination.
The helicopter was operated by Angel City Air and provided aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52.
Moreno and Marciniw were employees of Angel City Air.
One was hospitalized after suffering an apparent panic attack, while another was taken to a hospital in grave condition.
The crash also sparked a fire that damaged four vehicles and two storage containers.
The NTSB has already mapped out a long road ahead.Salazar said a preliminary report is expected in about 30 days, while a final report identifying probable cause could take up to 18 months.
