Eliana Moreno’s final message takes on heartbreaking meaning after fatal helicopter crash
Only four days before her life was cut short in a helicopter crash, aerial photojournalist Eliana “Eli” Moreno shared a cheerful message online that appeared entirely ordinary at the time.
That lighthearted reply would become one of Moreno’s final public messages before she was killed while covering breaking news over Los Angeles.
Moreno was aboard NewsChopper 4 with pilot George Marciniw on Tuesday, September 15, when the aircraft crashed in Chatsworth. The helicopter had been providing aerial coverage for NBC Los Angeles and Telemundo 52.
Moreno, Marciniw and a person believed to have been on the ground were killed. Two other people were taken to a hospital, according to Fire Battalion Chief Rico A. Gross, though their conditions were not immediately available.
“Thank you Danny! It’s okay…I blame it on jet lag. 😅,” Moreno wrote on X on September 11.
A routine assignment ends in tragedy
The helicopter had been covering the aftermath of an earlier collision involving a Los Angeles Metro bus and a passenger vehicle on Nordhoff Street.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said the road crash occurred at 5:03 p.m. Two people were killed and others were injured.
Shortly before 7 p.m., NewsChopper 4 crashed in a parking lot near a self-storage facility. Emergency crews already working nearby rushed to the second scene.
Fire Capt. Branden Silverman said responders found the helicopter engulfed in flames, with the fire spreading to nearby vehicles.
Anchor Colleen Williams delivered confirmation of the loss during an emotional NBC Los Angeles broadcast.
“We knew it was a news chopper, we knew we’d lost contact with our people out there,” Williams said before confirming that NewsChopper 4 had gone down.
NBC Los Angeles and Telemundo 52 later issued a joint statement expressing condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those killed.
Final footage raises painful questions
Video circulated on Facebook and X showing what was described as the helicopter’s final live footage. The recording initially shows the scene below before the aircraft appears to descend and its movements become increasingly unstable.
A voice presumed to be Moreno’s can be heard asking, “What? You can’t pull up?” Shortly afterward, the aircraft appears to jolt as it continues downward before the video ends.
The recording does not establish why the helicopter crashed, and no official cause has been announced.
Veteran helicopter pilot and former news reporter Zoey Tur said the audio appeared consistent with an engine failure, but her assessment is not an official conclusion.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the crash investigation, while the Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a separate review concerning paperwork, licensing and regulatory compliance.
Remembering the woman behind the camera
Moreno was born in Orange County and graduated from Chapman University in 2010 with degrees in broadcast journalism and political science.
She began working aboard news helicopters that year and reported for several Southern California outlets, including KCAL 9 and KCBS 2, before joining NBC’s aerial news operation around 2018 or 2019.
Her online identity, “Eli in the Heli,” reflected a career spent reporting from above the region. Moreno and Marciniw had reportedly flown together since 2023.
Away from work, Moreno’s social media profiles revealed that she was engaged to Robert Barrientos and spoke English, Spanish and French. She also shared photographs and videos involving rescued dogs and her life tending chickens on a farm.
NBC L.A. morning co-anchor Lynette Romero said Moreno and Marciniw loved breaking news and working aboard NewsChopper 4.
“They were both doing what they loved so much,” Romero said on TODAY.
Moreno’s final lighthearted post now stands in painful contrast to the events that followed just days later, preserving one last glimpse of her personality before a routine assignment became her final flight.
