NTSB investigators begin probe of deadly KNBC-TV helicopter crash

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board examine the wreckage of a helicopter used by KNBC-TV in Los Angeles on Wednesday, September 16, 2026. (Photo by NTSB/Handout)

Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will spend the next several weeks examining the wreckage of a news-gathering helicopter used by KNBC-TV that crashed in the parking lot of an industrial complex on Tuesday.

At a press briefing Wednesday afternoon, NTSB Air Safety Investigator Fabian Salazar said a team dispatched by the agency has arrived at the scene of the crash and will conduct a preliminary on-scene probe of the wreckage through the weekend.

That cursory probe will include taking photographs of the wreckage, gathering critical evidence and interviewing witnesses, Salazar said. The agency is also working to obtain surveillance video from the businesses near the crash scene.

(Video courtesy KABC-TV Los Angeles)

A preliminary report will be issued by the NTSB within the next 30 days, Salazar said. He cautioned that a final report offering a possible or definitive cause of the crash could take 18 months to complete.

The crash occurred while KNBC was covering a fatal collision between a Los Angeles municipal bus and a sports utility vehicle in Chatsworth, a suburban area in the northwestern part of the city.

Moments before the crash, reporter Eliana Moreno was communicating with the helicopter’s pilot, George Maciniw, about the best position for filming the bus crash when audible warning sounds began to blare in the cockpit of the aircraft, according to footage obtained and reviewed by The Desk.

Following those sounds, the helicopter starts to lower toward the ground and the camera violently shakes, then the video transmission cuts off.

Confused reporters at KNBC scrambled to shift their coverage from the scene of the bus crash to the neighborhood near where the chopper went down, without initially knowing that their helicopter was involved in the incident.

About two hours after the crash, KNBC confirmed their aircraft — chartered from Angel City Air, where Moreno and Maciniw worked — was the one involved in the incident. Moreno and Maciniw’s names were officially released by the station during its 11 p.m. newscast.

Watch the initial moments when KNBC-TV learned a news helicopter crashed in a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood. At the time, its news team did not know that the helicopter belonged to their station. [Video: KNBC]

Full story: https://t.co/TLTWVy5eUx pic.twitter.com/C7STw2XvrG
— TheDesk.net (@TheDeskDotNet) September 16, 2026

Salazar said the video footage from KNBC’s helicopter is “probably the most-important evidence that we have discovered so far.”

“What we’re going to do is get a pristine copy of that recording and send it to our recorder’s lab for sound spectrum analysis,” Salazar said, adding that the analysis conducted off-site will help the NTSB determine the cause of the crash.

But that video footage is already revealing clues less than 24 hours after the crash, and before any forensic analysis of the audio or the wreckage has taken place.

“We’re clearly hearing audio consistent with the engine changing its speed, and tones that are likely advisories to the pilot,” Salazar said.

The last few minutes of KNBC-TV's helicopter flight was captured on live video transmissions sent back to the station. These were the final moments of that flight; conditions of those on board still unknown.

Details here: https://t.co/CHA5cIVhEe pic.twitter.com/6mIST13BzK
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) September 16, 2026

A source familiar with the investigation said NTSB investigators are also focused on a shipping container immediately next to the ground where the helicopter came to rest. Damage to the container, coupled with at least one statement offered by a witness to investigator, strongly suggests that the underside of the helicopter’s fuselage struck the shipping container, causing the aircraft to break into two on impact.

The helicopter, an AirBus AS350 commonly referred to as “AStar,” uses a fuel tank located directly underneath the fuselage. When originally sold in the early 2000s, investigators determined the fuel tank was prone to exploding when the helicopter impacted the ground.

After a number of fatal crashes, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered operators to retrofit existing and new AS350 aircraft with new equipment known as a Crash-Resistant Fuel System (CRFS). The new system helps prevent the possibility of a post-crash fire, but doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility, especially if the aircraft is struck immediately underneath the cabin, a safety official said.

It wasn’t clear if the AS350 leased by KNBC was retrofitted with the new crash-resistant fuel tank. An e-mail sent to Angel City Air by The Desk has not yet been returned.

The crash is the deadliest involving a helicopter used by a news organization in nearly three years.

In December 2023, two people on board a helicopter used by WPVI (Channel 6, ABC) were killed when the aircraft went down following a news story in New Jersey. The helicopter was headed back to an airport in the Philadelphia area at the time of the crash.

In 2014, four people were killed when a helicopter leased by KOMO-TV (Channel 4, ABC) crashed near the station’s studios in Seattle. The aircraft involved in that incident was the same model used by KNBC.

Crashes involving news-gathering helicopters are heavily scrutinized by federal regulators, and some incidents have led to significant changes in how those types of aircraft are allowed to operate.

A 2007 mid-air crash involving two TV news helicopters in Phoenix led to a recommendation by federal regulators that broadcast stations maintain separate roles for pilots and reporters on board their aircraft. At the time of the crash, both stations were covering a police pursuit, with their pilots providing commentary; investigators said the distraction meant neither pilot saw each other’s aircraft before the collision occurred.

The Phoenix crash also led to stronger safety standards, including the installation of anti-collision technology on board helicopters used by news organizations.