Veteran NBC4 reporter Robert Kovacik was left visibly emotional after learning that two of his colleagues had been killed in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles’ Chatsworth neighborhood while covering a separate fatal traffic collision.Aerial reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were killed when the NBC4 and Telemundo 52 news helicopter crashed shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday, September 15. A third person on the ground, identified by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, also died.
Robert Kovacik was reporting just feet from the crash
Kovacik was at the scene covering the earlier bus and SUV collision when the news helicopter went down nearby. According to reports, he saw black smoke and rushed toward the helicopter crash site.Footage from the scene showed the veteran NBC4 journalist visibly shaken. He was seen wiping tears from his eyes before sitting inside a police vehicle with an officer.Kovacik later returned to the live broadcast, where his emotional state was apparent as he reported from Chatsworth.“You think about it ladies, as we deal with this day of dueling tragedies here in Chatsworth,” Kovacik said during the broadcast, before describing how members of the media, emergency services and the local community had gathered at the scene.“In Chatsworth, I’m Robert Kovacik,” he said before handing the coverage back to the studio.
Kovacik initially did not know whose helicopter had crashed
Kovacik was covering a bus collision when the news helicopter crashed nearby. (Photo: KNN)
The veteran reporter appeared confused and distressed in the immediate aftermath of the crash.“I just saw a colleague of mine from ABC in tears and concern,” Kovacik said. “We don’t know where the chopper is from. We don’t know if it even is a chopper. We don’t know if it is a news chopper.”As the situation became clearer, NBC4 confirmed that Moreno and Marciniw were the two people aboard the helicopter who had died.Kovacik had worked alongside the pair for years. Moreno and Marciniw had reportedly been flying together since 2023 and had logged hundreds of hours together covering major stories across Southern California.
Eliana Moreno and George Marciniw killed while covering another crash
Kovacik reported from the Chatsworth crash scene following the tragedy.
Moreno was an aerial reporter who worked with NBC4 and Telemundo 52. She joined Angel City Air’s helicopter team in 2010 after graduating from Chapman University with degrees in broadcast journalism and political science.Marciniw, who grew up in Southern California, graduated from Burbank High School in 1974 and had decades of aviation experience. He and Moreno had worked together on aerial news coverage since 2023.The helicopter, operated by Angel City Air, was covering a deadly collision involving a Metro bus and an SUV when it crashed in a parking area near a storage facility in Chatsworth.The third person killed in the helicopter crash was identified as Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground when the aircraft went down. Two other people were reportedly taken to a hospital.
Cause of crash remains under investigation
The cause of the helicopter crash has not been established. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the September 15 crash involving a Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter, with investigators expected at the scene Wednesday.Video from the moments before the crash reportedly captured an alarm sounding inside the helicopter as it lost altitude. A woman’s voice could also be heard questioning whether the aircraft could pull up before the footage ended. The significance of the audio remains part of the ongoing investigation.NBC4 and Telemundo 52 expressed condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those killed, saying the helicopter had been providing aerial news coverage when the fatal accident occurred.The crash has left the Southern California news community mourning Moreno and Marciniw, who had spent years covering breaking news from the skies.
