Famous On-Air Deaths

Famous on-air deaths. All these people died while on the air.

Budd Dwyer

(Dwyer moments before killing himself on live TV)

Budd Dwyer was a Pennsylvania politician who was accused of and convicted of taking bribes to steer government contracts in 1988. Dwyer vehemently denied the charges and the case was reportedly full of holes. One day before he was to be sentenced he called a televised press conference. Most expected Dwyer to resign but instead he read a prepared statement once again claiming his innocence. He then handed his aides 3 sealed envelopes, one for his wife, one that contained his organ donor card and one to the Governor of Pennsylvania. Dwyer then pulled out a manila envelope and removed a .357 magnum handgun. He looked to the crowd in the room and said, “Please leave the room if you think this will affect you.” He waited a few moments as those in the crowd shouted “No!” at him and then put the gun barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger on live television. He slumped against the wall as blood poured out of his mouth and the back of his head and then he died. Today one can still see the bullet hole in the building where Dwyer killed himself.

Jane Dornacker

(Actual helicopter Dornacker crashed in) Source

Dornacker was a live helicopter traffic reporter for WNBC in New York City. On April 18, 1986, Dornacker was reporting from a WNBC helicopter over the Hackensack River in New Jersey when the aircraft crashed into the river. She and the pilot survived and were able to swim to shore. On October 22, 1986, at 4:44 PM, Dornacker was giving a live on-air traffic report when The F-28 helicopter she was in nose-dived, struck the top of a chain link fence at a river pier, crashed into the Hudson River very near to the Manhattan shore and sank in 15 to 20 feet of water. Both Dornacker and the pilot were trapped underwater for about 15 minutes. Dornacker died on route to the hospital after she was rescued. The pilot somehow survived. I remember this incident very well as I drove for a living at the time and radio stations kept playing the last words Dornacker ever said live on the air, “Hit the water!, hit the water!, hit the water!”, as she pleaded with the pilot to avoid hitting the ground that would have instantly killed them.