At least three people were killed when an NBC4 news helicopter crashed and burst into flames Tuesday night in Chatsworth not far from a serious accident involving a Metro bus that also left three people dead.
The area was already swarming with police, fire officials and the news media because of the bus crash when there was a fireball and people heard a loud explosion a few blocks away.
The chopper went down between two commercial buildings in the 9100 block of Mason Avenue around 7 p.m.
NBC4 news anchor Colleen Williams confirmed around 9 p.m. that the station’s Chopper 4 had crashed. She had earlier told viewers that the station had lost contact with its team in the air.
“We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process, and to regroup,” Williams said before the station ended its live coverage.
The LAFD said at least one person on the ground was killed. The two other victims were on board the chopper. A fourth person was taken to the hospital.
The helicopter crashed in a driveway between two warehouses, smashing into a pair of truck cargo containers. Four nearby vehicles also caught fire. Neither of the warehouse buildings were hit.
A helicopter crashed near where a Metro bus and SUV collided Tuesday evening.
(KTLA)
Woodland Hills resident Allyona Sevanesian said she and her husband were en route to a grocery store when she saw a cloud of smoke and they investigated “to make sure everybody was OK” but found a sobering scene.
“We drove there … behind the building,” the publicist said. “There was a gentleman that was hit by the helicopter.”
By 7:30 p.m., the flames were extinguished by police and fire crews at the scene.
The crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Earlier in the evening, three people were killed and as many as six others injured when an SUV smashed into the side of a Metro bus in Chatsworth. The lodged vehicle trapped bus riders, who had to be extricated by first responders.
Aerial view of the scene in Chatsworth where a SUV slammed into the side of a Metro bus.
(KTLA)
A Metro Line 166 bus was traveling eastbound on Nordhoff Street at 5:02 p.m. when it was hit by the SUV traveling southbound on De Soto Avenue, according to L.A. Metro.
Those injured in the bus crash were taken to a local hospital, according to Jennifer Middleton, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department. No information was immediately available on the severity of the injuries. The Fire Department said it did not have a breakdown of how many of the eight people were in the bus or the SUV.
An L.A. Urban Search and Rescue Team extricated multiple people from the bus, and one person was beneath the vehicle as well, according to reporting by KTLA.
Soon after the wreck, local TV news video showed the front half of the SUV embedded in the side of the bus. Later, the vehicle was removed and a gaping hole was visible in the Metro bus’ side, with wreckage strewn around the scene. A white tent was erected nearby.
At the height of the response to the incident, there were 56 Fire Department personnel on scene, Middleton said.
The aviation tragedy was not the first that NBC4 had experienced.
In 1977, Francis Gary Powers was killed in a helicopter crash in Encino while working as a “Telecopter” reporter for KNBC.
Powers and a KNBC cameraman, George Spears, were returning from covering brushfires north of Santa Barbara when the helicopter Powers was piloting crashed into an open field near the Sepulveda Dam, carving a 21-foot-long gouge in the ground and killing both men.
According to The Times’ archives, Powers was a “conservative flier” who, on his final flight, ran out of fuel.
Powers was a figure in Cold War history. While employed as a U-2 spy-plane pilot for the CIA, Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960.
In a post on X, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was “absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth.”
“My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash,” Bass said.
KTLA news anchor Frank Buckley announced his condolences in a post on X.
“Condolences to our friends at NBCLA on a painful evening after their news helicopter crashed in Chatsworth,” Buckley said. “The helicopter pilots and crews at all of our stations are vital members of our teams who are dedicated to informing the public and this is a terrible loss.”