Their helicopter smashed into trees into the side of a hill.
The plane had taken off from Lunken Airport. Gould was piloting a five-seat Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, leased by the radio station. The crash left small pieces of wreckage in the trees of the California Nature Preserve. The pilot's body was found on the hillside about 100 feet from McCormick's.
The NTSB report indicated that Gould suggested the take-off be delayed until daylight, but the traffic reporter, under pressure from competition who were already airborne, pressured the pilot to take off. The crash occurred in a wooded area about a mile from where they took off.
McCormick had been a traffic reporter for WKRC for 3 1/2 years. She was reportedly studying aviation and thought about becoming a pilot.
According to published reports at the time, McCormick was troubled by a previous helicopter crash in New York that killed newswoman Jane Dornacker the month prior. Unlike that crash, McCormick was not broadcasting live at the time of her death.