NBC4LA Pays Emotional Tribute After Deadly Helicopter Crash

We come on the air this morning with very heavy hearts. Our NBC4 family is grieving two of our colleagues. They lost their lives while on assignment, on board NewsChopper 4. Chopper reporter Eliana Moreno and her pilot George Marceneau were covering a deadly Metro bus crash when their chopper went down just about a block away. Three people were killed, including Eliana and George, and another person was hurt. This morning, we really want to take time to reflect on the tragedy that has touched all of us so deeply. We've been talking about it late last night, early this morning, these overnight hours. And Eliana, we were talking about this morning up in the newsroom as we prepare to show you pictures of Eliana and George. What I'm going to miss most about her and what really stood out to me was her passion and her enthusiasm. Every time you heard her voice, I mean, she was gung-ho. She loved what she did. You could tell there was so much passion and that she loved her job. And I've been working here since, you know, 2014, and I've thrown to her countless times when she was working in the mornings and she was giving me an aerial view of the freeways. And I just want to say, like, she just was always on top of it. And you could tell that she loved it. She was a kind person. She worked very hard and she just continued to get stronger and stronger as a journalist up in the chopper over the years, you know? And what can you say about George that when you thought about News Chopper 4, you thought about George? He was so respected within the community as a pilot, but also just as a colleague, somebody that has a legacy and has been here in LA for so long. And we want to thank them, you know, for their service. And we want to extend our condolences to their family, their friends, their colleagues, because they've lived a life of service. I think when you get into this industry, that's what most people want to do. They want to help in some way, and they definitely help by providing so much information to so many people, you know, across our area. So we will miss them very, very dearly.