Kobe Bryant: investigators on scene to determine cause of helicopter crash

Investigators worked on a rugged hillside outside Los Angeles on Monday to determine the cause of the helicopter crash that killed retired basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others

About 20 investigators scoured the crash site in Calabasas, some 30 miles (48km) north-west of downtown Los Angeles, where the helicopter went down in foggy weather on Sunday.

The cause of the disaster remains unknown, and is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Federal safety investigators are exploring factors including the pilot’s history and the chopper’s maintenance records, said the National Transportation Safety Board member Jennifer Homendy.

But much attention has focused on the weather, which was considered dangerous enough that the Los Angeles police department and the county sheriff’s department had grounded their choppers. Bryant’s helicopter had received special approval to fly amid the worse than usual weather, the New York Times reported.

The Sikorsky S-76 carrying Bryant and his fellow passengers took off from Santa Ana in Orange county, south of Los Angeles, shortly after 9am, heading north and then west. Authorities did not say where Bryant was going, but the helicopter appeared headed in the direction of his youth sports academy in nearby Thousand Oaks, which was holding a basketball tournament Sunday in which Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, known as GiGi, was competing.

Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and their shared love of basketball – video report

Air traffic controllers noted poor visibility around Burbank to the north and Van Nuys to the north-west. According to the New York Times, the helicopter circled near Burbank while awaiting clearance from air traffic controllers to keep going. It received clearance to proceed through Burbank’s airspace before it continued on to Calabasas, where it crashed into the hillside around 9.45am at about 1,400ft (426 meters), according to data from Flightradar24.

When it struck the ground, the helicopter was flying at about 160 knots (184mph) and descending at a rate of more than 4,000ft a minute, the data showed.

In his last radio message, the pilot, identified as Ara Zobayan, asked for air traffic controllers to provide “flight following” aid but was told the craft was too low, Homendy told reporters Monday afternoon.

About four minutes later, the pilot said he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer, she said. “When [air traffic control] asked what the pilot planned to do, there was no reply.”

Zobayan had asked for and received special clearance to fly in the heavy fog just minutes before the crash. Several aviation experts said it was not uncommon for pilots to be given this kind of approval, though some thought it unusual that it would be granted in a busy area like LA.