Who was Francis Gary Powers? NBC chopper crash brings flashbacks of pilot's 1977 death
The NBC chopper crash brings flashbacks of the death of Francis Gary Powers, who died in a 1977 Encino helicopter crash on August 1, 1977.
On September 15, a news helicopter operated by NBC crashed while covering a bus collision in Los Angeles, resulting in the deaths of three individuals. This incident evoked memories of Francis Gary Powers, a pilot who died in a helicopter crash during a news assignment in 1977. Powers, an American Air Force officer and CIA employee, gained notoriety for his role in the 1960 U-2 incident where he was shot down while conducting a secret CIA spy mission over the Soviet Union.
Despite surviving the initial crash, he was captured and imprisoned in the Soviet Union for espionage, serving 21 months before being released in a prisoner exchange in 1962. Following his release, Powers continued his career in aviation, working as a test pilot for Lockheed and later as a helicopter pilot for the Los Angeles news station KNBC.
He tragically lost his life on August 1, 1977, when the KNBC helicopter he was piloting crashed due to fuel exhaustion during a flight over the San Fernando Valley.
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