ABC7 aerial photojournalist Mike Davich dies while out reporting

Mike Davich, a longtime aerial videographer and photographer for ABC's San Francisco news station KGO (also known locally as ABC7), has died, the station reports. He was 54.

According to a Tuesday announcement from the station, Davich, who worked as a photojournalist with the station for more than a decade, died over the weekend while on a reporting assignment.

"His latest assignment was at Laguna Seca in Monterey County where he collapsed," KGO's report reads. He was covering the Motoamerica Supersport motorcycle race at the Laguna Seca Raceway at the time. It is unclear if he was shooting for KGO or as a freelancer.

Davich was a familiar face across the San Francisco television news landscape, working as a photojournalist for the likes of KTVU, KGO and KRON since 1994, according to his LinkedIn profile. He often reported from SKY7, the helicopter ABC uses for aerial coverage of breaking news events.

Longtime Los Angeles news reporter Hal Eisner, who was friends with Davich for more than 20 years, and KGO assignment manager Jim Huntington were among the people who publicly mourned Davich's death.

"He cared about his profession, his friends and his community," Eisner wrote on Facebook. "Mike, who was a U.S. Army Veteran, was even a volunteer uniformed police officer for the Pleasanton Police Department."

"Mike was an important member of the news team," Huntington said in a statement shared with Eisner. "He had a ton of experience shooting from the helicopter and was always super helpful when I had questions over the two-way radio. Mike was very well known at all the Bay Area stations and in the business here. He seemed to know everyone. People are really sad to hear the news."

Davich is survived by his parents, KGO reports.