Incident Description

On the evening of September 15, 2026, NBC Los Angeles’ NewsChopper 4 (registration N358TV), a Eurocopter AS350 B2 used for aerial news coverage by KNBC and Telemundo 52, crashed in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles while reporting on a deadly Metro bus collision.

Earlier that afternoon, around 5 p.m., an SUV struck a Metro Line 166 bus at the intersection of Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue, killing at least two people and injuring several others. Multiple news helicopters, including NewsChopper 4, were in the area providing live aerial coverage of the scene and emergency response.

Shortly before 7 p.m., the helicopter went down between two commercial buildings in the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue, roughly a mile or so from the bus crash site. It struck the ground, erupted into flames, and damaged several vehicles and storage containers. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded with dozens of firefighters and extinguished the blaze. Officials reported three people killed—at least one of them a person on the ground—and one person hospitalized. The aircraft itself was heavily damaged.

NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed on air that the station had lost contact with its airborne team and later verified that the downed helicopter was NewsChopper 4, operated for the station (reports have cited operators including Angel City Air and Tiny Bubbles Aviation Inc.). Footage from the helicopter’s onboard camera reportedly captured cockpit warnings before the aircraft veered downward; the impact itself was not shown in the live feed.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and other authorities. No official identities of those killed or injured have been publicly released by authorities or the station at the time of initial reporting. Local and state officials, including Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom, issued statements expressing condolences to the victims’ families and the NBC4 newsroom.The incident marked a tragic convergence of two fatal events in the same San Fernando Valley community within hours of each other.

Sources
Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-15/2-reportedly-killed-in-crash-of-suv-metro-bus-that-leaves-numerous-people-injured
NBC Los Angeles: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/helicopter-crashes-in-chatsworth/3942738/
The Desk: https://thedesk.net/2026/09/knbc-tv-confirms-news-helicopter-involved-in-fatal-crash/
Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/us/3-dead-1-hospitalized-news-helicopter-crashes-los-angeles-commercial-area
Aircraft tracking reference for N358TV: https://gtla.live/here/N358TV