A HELICOPTER operated by Los Angeles television station NBC4 crashed and burst into flames in the Chatsworth neighbourhood on Tuesday night, killing three people, including two aboard the aircraft and a pedestrian on the ground, authorities said.
The NewsChopper4 helicopter crashed near the 9100 block of Mason Avenue shortly before 7 p.m. local time while flying over the scene of a separate Metro bus collision that had killed two people, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).
The pedestrian was standing in a nearby parking lot when the helicopter crashed, Fox 11 reported. The identities of the three victims have not been released.
The crash ignited fires involving four automobiles and two storage containers, all of which were damaged, the LAFD said. The fire was later extinguished and no structures were affected.
One person was taken to hospital after suffering an apparent panic attack.
The helicopter was "pretty well destroyed", LAFD public information officer Brandon Silverman said, according to NBC4.
"So, we are going to have to go through the rubble and see how many victims there were on board, as well as identify the helicopter; we couldn’t even see a tail," he said.
NBC4 later confirmed that its NewsChopper4 was the helicopter involved. The aircraft is operated by Angel City Air.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
NTSB spokesperson Jennifer Gabris said investigators were gathering information and that an NTSB investigator was expected to arrive at the scene on Wednesday morning.
The separate Metro bus collision that the helicopter had been covering left two people dead and six others hospitalised.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was "absolutely devastated" by the loss of life in Chatsworth and offered condolences to the families of those killed in the bus collision and helicopter crash.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also expressed condolences to the victims and their families and thanked first responders at the scene. - September 16, 2026
