Helicopter Down

A news helicopter crashed in Los Angeles Tuesday, killing three people. 

NewsChopper4, delivering aerial news for NBC4 and Telemundo 52, was covering a fatal bus crash that killed two people in the Chatsworth neighborhood when it went down. The chopper’s crash and resulting blaze killed the two-person crew (a photojournalist and veteran pilot nearing retirement) and a pedestrian visiting from Guatemala. See NBC4’s anchor break the news. 

Cockpit audio captured a warning alarm, a voice saying “uh oh,” then “You can’t pull up?” before the feed went dark. Aviation experts say the audio points to engine failure. 

More than 70 firefighters battled the flames that spread to four vehicles and two storage containers on what Mayor Karen Bass called “a heartbreaking night” for Los Angeles. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead an investigation. 

PRAY WITH US
Lord of Highest Heaven, today we are brought down low. Your people have soared to remarkable, breathtaking heights, marveling at the ingenuity of flight, the gift of swift passage, the wonder of a bird’s-eye view—only to be brought down in flame and reduced to ash.

Comfort families whose normalcy has been suddenly shattered; draw near to those who lost what cannot be restored; heal those wounded and traumatized, beaten down by the wrongness of the world. You alone can turn mourning into dancing; exchange funeral attire for wedding clothes; swap grief for glory, so we come to you whose presence clings tightly in heaviest grief. Amen.