THE Kobe Bryant crash site has been revealed in new images detailing debris sprawled hundreds of feet apart. Crash investigators have revealed a map of the field where the doomed chopper plunged into a fireball in California last month. The 41-year-old NBA legend and his daughter Gianna, 13, were on their way to a basketball […]
THE Kobe Bryant crash site has been revealed in new images detailing debris sprawled hundreds of feet apart.
Crash investigators have revealed a map of the field where the doomed chopper plunged into a fireball in California last month.
The 41-year-old NBA legend and his daughter Gianna, 13, were on their way to a basketball practice when the chopper came down in fog that had forced the LAPD to ground their choppers.
Among those killed were sports coaches, parents and teenage peers of Bryant’s basketball star daughter.
The pilot – Ara Zobayan – was attempting to turn the aircraft when it smashed into hills of Las Virgenes Canyon.
He had been in communication with air traffic control as he circled above Burbank, California for around 15 minutes.
Just seconds before the crash an operator in the control tower was heard saying “you’re too low” as he lost contact with the aircraft.
The crash site is spread over hundreds of feet with a piece of the tail found down one hill.
The fuselage was discovered on the other side of of that hill and then the main rotor was around 100 yards beyond that.
Investigators say the debris field is about 500 to 600ft long.
The National Transportation Safety Board today released a prelim report along with the map and images.
The report said: “Viewable sections of the engines showed no evidence of an uncontained or catastrophic internal failure.”
Weather monitoring technology was reporting “a calm wind, visibility of 2.5 statute miles, and haze and an overcast ceiling of 1,100 feet above ground level” at the time of the crash.
The NTSB report said one witness heard the chopper as it emerged from the clouds passing from left to right.
He thought it was on a “forward and descending trajectory.”
The witness told investigators the Sikorsky S-76B started to roll to the left and he briefly saw its belly.
It was only a couple seconds before it crashed about 50 feet below him, the update says.
As well as his daughter, Bryant was travelling with, college baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and their daughter Alyssa along with one of the coaches at Kobe’s youth academy, Christina Mauser.
The other two passengers were later revealed to be Sarah and Payton Chester.
We previously told how the pilot of the helicopter was told “you’re too low” before it smashed into a hillside in fog.
Audio between Zobayan and air traffic control reveals he was flying under “special visual flight rules,” or SVFR.
The SVFR clearances allows pilots to fly in weather that is worse than the standard “visual flight rules” and are issued when cloud ceilings are below 1,000 feet above ground level.
The air traffic control tower at Burbank Airport told the pilot to move northeast using the special clearance, according to audio captured by LiveATC.net.
Tapes revealed the pilot said: “Maintain special VFR at or below 2,500.”
Before he got special clearance, the pilot was using his eyesight to see the terrain below the helicopter.
Shortly before the crash, Zobayan was told “you’re too low”.
The controller says: “Two echo x-ray you are still too low for flight following at this time.”
But the NTSB’s initial findings noted that Zobayan scored satisfactory grades in proficiency for maneuvers needed in low-visibility conditions.
He had proficiency training in “inadvertent entry into instrument meteorological conditions and unusual attitude recovery” in Mary 2019.
The latest update said: “Our investigators have already developed a substantial amount of evidence about the circumstances of this tragic crash.”
NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt said today: “And we are confident that we will be able to determine its cause as well as any factors that contributed to it so we can make safety recommendations to prevent accidents like this from occurring again.”
Kobe’s helicopter took off from Long Beach at 8:29 a.m PST on Sunday, then touched down again just eight minutes later in Orange County.
It is believed the stop was to pick up Bryant and the other passengers.
The helicopter then took off again 30 minutes later at 9:06am but never reached its final destination.
It was just 20 minutes into the flight when the plane began to circle in Burbank while speaking with flight control.
The pilot was then told to try and follow the freeways to the aircraft’s final destination of Camarillo.
This plan initially proved to be successful, with the helicopter making it north and then turning west towards Camarillo when it suddenly began to encounter problem in Calabasas.
Records show that at this point, the helicopter, began to ascend as it approached the Santa Monica Mountains.
The plane was at 1750 feet and travelling at a speed of 161 knots when it crashed.
