A news helicopter belonging to NBC News crashed in Los Angeles, killing at least three people and sending another to hospital, local authorities said.
NBC Los Angeles confirmed the helicopter was its own and that the crash occurred during a live broadcast. The helicopter crew had been covering a major crash involving a car and a public transit bus from the air, which had killed at least two people and injured six others.
The television station lost contact with the crew shortly before the crash. The helicopter went down in the Chatsworth area in northwest Los Angeles, after which a fire broke out and more than 50 firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the cause of the crash.
The incident shows how thin the line is on which journalists covering news from the air work. They report on others' misfortune live on air while themselves being in the same risky environment. What matters here is not a picturesque description of professional danger, but that the consequences of one crash hours later became the cause of another, heavier tragedy.
Two separate incidents: in one there were victims on the ground, in the other in the air. This coincidence is no accident. In cities like Los Angeles, media outlets often send helicopters to even the smallest incident scene, because competition on air does not forgive slowness. A question arises: is there enough room left for safety checks in that race?
The investigation has only just begun, and it is difficult to say what it will reveal. But it is already clear that the conclusions of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration could affect the operating rules not only of this one company, but of news aviation as a whole.
