Two days before veteran helicopter pilot George Marciniw climbed into NewsChopper4 for what would become his final flight, he spoke with a man who had known him for decades.
There was nothing unusual about the conversation at the time. No apparent warning that tragedy was approaching and no reason to believe it would be one of their last exchanges.
But after Marciniw died alongside aerial journalist Eliana Moreno in the September 15, 2026 helicopter crash in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, fellow pilot and former student Esteban Jimenez revealed what they had been discussing that Sunday.
They talked about aviation.
And retirement.
“I just spoke to him on Sunday,” Jimenez told NBC Los Angeles. “We were talking about the aviation business and retiring.” (NBC Los Angeles)
Two days later, Marciniw was gone.
His Former Student Had Known Him Since the 1990s
Jimenez’s relationship with Marciniw went far beyond two pilots who happened to work in the same industry.
He said he had known Marciniw since the 1990s and that the veteran aviator had once been his flight instructor.
“He was my instructor at one time,” Jimenez recalled.
Over the years, teacher and student became longtime friends and fellow pilots. Jimenez described Marciniw as his “eyes and ears here in L.A.”, someone who kept him informed about what was happening in the local aviation world. (NBC Los Angeles)
Marciniw had spent more than three decades teaching and flying helicopters and had accumulated roughly 14,000 flight hours, according to reports citing his professional flight-instructor profile. (Goincop)
Yet for Jimenez, those numbers weren’t what defined him.
He remembered the person who had once taught him how to fly — and who, decades later, was still someone he could call to talk about their shared passion.
Then Came Their Sunday Conversation
Marciniw and Jimenez spoke on Sunday, September 13.
The crash happened Tuesday, September 15.
Their conversation centered on the aviation business and retirement, according to Jimenez. He said Marciniw had been approaching retirement, making their final topic particularly poignant after his death. (NBC Los Angeles)
“I just cannot believe this,” Jimenez said afterward. (NBC Los Angeles)
In another interview, he reflected on all the things he wished he had said during that final weekend.
“I feel there’s so many things I could have said to him over the weekend when we were talking about flying,” Jimenez told CBS Los Angeles. (CBS News)
Only afterward could he know that the ordinary conversation would become one of his final memories of his former instructor.
Marciniw Had Spent Decades in the Air
Marciniw was hardly an inexperienced pilot.
He grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974. Alongside his work flying news helicopters, he spent decades instructing aspiring pilots. (NBC Los Angeles)
His professional background included aerial filming, flight instruction and other helicopter operations, and colleagues described him as highly respected within Southern California’s aviation community. (Goincop)
That extensive experience is one reason his death has hit fellow pilots so hard.
A man who had taught others to fly safely and accumulated thousands upon thousands of hours in the cockpit died during what began as another routine news assignment.
He and Eliana Moreno Had Become a Familiar Team in the Sky
Marciniw was not alone aboard the helicopter.
Aerial journalist Eliana Moreno, 38, was working beside him.
The pair had regularly flown together for approximately three years, providing aerial coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52. Their assignments ranged from police pursuits and wildfires to breaking-news scenes across Southern California. (CBS News)
Moreno had joined Angel City Air’s helicopter team in 2010 and eventually became known online as “Eli in the Heli.” Her unusual job required her to report while simultaneously helping capture the aerial images viewers saw on television. (CBS News)
Marciniw handled the aircraft.
Moreno handled the story.
Together, they became part of what NBC4 later remembered as its “team in the sky.” (https://www.wthitv.com)
Their Final Assignment Began With Another Tragedy
On September 15, Marciniw and Moreno were dispatched to Chatsworth after a deadly collision involving an SUV and a Metro bus.
They were hovering above the scene and providing aerial coverage when something went catastrophically wrong.
The helicopter went down in a commercial area near the original crash scene. Marciniw and Moreno were killed, as was a man on the ground, 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia. (CBS News)
Gutierrez Mejia had no connection to the helicopter crew. He was in the parking area where the aircraft came down. (CBS News)
The horrifying coincidence meant that a news crew sent to cover one fatal accident became part of another.
Investigators Have Not Determined What Caused the Crash
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration began gathering evidence after the crash.
One particularly important piece of evidence already exists: the helicopter itself was transmitting live video when the emergency unfolded.
NTSB investigator-in-charge Fabian Salazar called that footage the “most important evidence” available in the early stages of the investigation. (CBS News)
An alarm can be heard in footage from the helicopter’s final moments. Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told reporters that it sounded consistent with a low-rotor-RPM warning, which can occur when the rotor is no longer turning quickly enough to maintain flight. That remains an expert interpretation, however, rather than an official determination of the crash’s cause. (https://www.wthitv.com)
The NTSB has not yet established the probable cause.
Friends Remembered a Pilot Who Was Always Calm
For those who knew Marciniw, his professional experience was only part of his story.
Jimenez remembered him as consistently calm and well-liked.
“He was always cool,” he told CBS Los Angeles, adding that he couldn’t remember meeting anyone who disliked his former instructor. (CBS News)
Outside aviation, Marciniw was also remembered as a friendly neighbor and devoted churchgoer.
His neighbor Brea Angelo said her children called him “Mr. George” and remembered him working on his lawn and joining neighborhood barbecues. (CBS News)
At the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Los Angeles, where Marciniw’s family had deep roots, Father Ihor Koshyk remembered his bright smile and kindness. Marciniw attended so regularly that Koshyk even pointed out the pew where he usually sat. (NBC Los Angeles)
His Last Conversation Was About the Future
Perhaps that is what makes Jimenez’s recollection especially painful.
Their Sunday conversation wasn’t about death.
It was about what came next.
After decades spent in helicopters — teaching students, flying above Los Angeles and accumulating roughly 14,000 hours in the air — Marciniw was reportedly nearing retirement. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Two days after discussing that future with one of the pilots he had once taught, he climbed into NewsChopper4 with Moreno for another assignment.
He never returned.
There is no evidence that Marciniw anticipated what was about to happen, and investigators have yet to determine why the aircraft went down. But for Jimenez, one ordinary Sunday phone call has inevitably taken on a different meaning.
They talked about aviation.
They talked about retirement.
And only afterward did Jimenez discover that he had just had one of his final conversations with the man who once taught him to fly. (NBC Los Angeles)
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