Exclusive | Famed LA helicopter pilot reveals five-second decision that may have led to deadly NBC chopper tragedy

A prominent Los Angeles helicopter pilot believes a crucial delay of just five seconds may have turned an apparent in-flight emergency aboard an NBC news chopper into a deadly plunge.Zoey Turr, a longtime helicopter pilot and former pilot-reporter for KCBS and KNBC, said the crash of the Airbus AS350 B2 appeared to show a dramatic loss of rotor speed as the aircraft hovered over Chatsworth on Tuesday.Turr, who has more than 10,000 flight hours and has owned two AS350 B2 helicopters and a JetRanger, analyzed the crash video and audio using her experience with the same aircraft model.“I think there was a good chance the aircraft could have been brought down safely if the pilot reacted quickly enough,” Turr said.“I’m going to get a lot of heat over this, but I’m a reporter, this is my experience, and I’m seldom wrong when it comes to these situations.”The helicopter was in the air covering an earlier crash involving an SUV and Metro bus, killing NBC4 and Telemundo 52 reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw and 29-year-old pedestrian Edy Gutierrez Mejia when it plunged to the ground.The two crashes happened back-to-back Tuesday night, claiming five lives.According to Turr, the chopper appeared to be essentially hovering when its engine began winding down.Then came an ominous warning sound known as the klaxon – a horn designed to alert the pilot to either low rotor RPM or a loss of hydraulic pressure.Turr said the circumstances visible and audible in the footage pointed to low rotor RPM or rotations per minute, rather than a hydraulic failure.The pilot controls that with the collective, a lever operated with the left hand that changes the pitch – or angle – of the rotor blades.That control becomes critical when an engine loses power, according to Turr.

“You don’t want to hear any of these things when the horn goes off in flight because it means that you have just a second or two to lower that collective,” he said.Turr believes the warn...