Kobe Bryant: New photos show helicopter in 'huge fireball' moments after crashing into a hill
Disturbing images from the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant have now emerged. The photos show how the chopper exploded in a ball of flames after crashing into a Los Angeles hillside, killing the NBA legend, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others.
According to The Sun, a man who was riding a mountain bike with a friend snapped photos of the wreckage after witnessing Bryant's Sikorsky S-76B fly into the fog shortly before 10 am Sunday.
“Out of the fog came a helicopter and it slammed into the mountainside about 200 feet from where we were standing,” the man said on condition of anonymity.
“We were close enough that we could feel the air from the propellers. There was a huge fireball,” he said. “One of the helicopter doors landed about 10 to 15 feet away from us. Helicopter parts were flying everywhere. There was very little left of the helicopter."
The source said he and his friend immediately rushed to the crash site to lend assistance. However, there were "obviously no survivors," he said. “We didn’t realize that Kobe Bryant was in the helicopter until we got back down to the parking lot,” he added. “Just the fact that a whole helicopter full of people crashed was shocking to us.”
According to the report, Ara Zobayan, the pilot flying the doomed aircraft, had received “special visual flight rules” clearance to fly by manual sight in worse than normal visibility conditions in the controlled airspace. Authorities explained how the aircraft was flying at 1,400 feet before veering from Highway 101 below and smashing into the Calabasas hills. Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Monday that they were "not just focusing on weather."
“We look at man, machine and the environment, and weather is just a small portion of that," she explained.
According to her, radar data indicated that the chopper had climbed to 2,300 feet before beginning a left descending turn. She added that the aircraft didn't have a black box, nor was it required to per existing aviation rules.
Among the victims of the tragic crash were Bryant, his daughter Gianna, college baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and their daughter Alyssa (who was a friend of Gianna's), Sarah and Payton Chester, and one of the coaches at Kobe's youth academy, Christina Mauser, who was married to Tijuana Dogs singer Matt Mauser.
You can see pictures from the wreckage here.