Kobe Bryant death: Was sudden change in chopper's course and rise from 1,200 ft to 2,000 ft a fatal mistake?
The former NBA all-star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, January 26.
While an investigation is on to determine what caused the crash which killed seven other passengers, a number of circumstances are coming up as likely causes. Sources shared that LA was very foggy on Sunday morning and even the LAPD air support had been grounded, reports TMZ. Flight tracker data from Bryant's helicopter shows that it did encounter bad weather when it was above the LA Zoo.
The helicopter reportedly circled around the area multiple times at a very low altitude of around 875 feet. The pilot had contacted the control tower at the Burbank airport around 9:30 am PT and the tower was also aware that the helicopter had been circling for several minutes.
The pilot headed down the 118 freeway and then turned west to follow the 101 freeway around Woodland Hills in California. The helicopter apparently encountered more bad weather around 10 minutes later when it headed south which was towards a mountainous area. The pilot then suddenly climbed from 1,200 feet to 2,000 feet.
Just moments later, at 9.45 am, they crashed into a mountain at 1,700 feet. According to flight tracker data, they had been flying at around 161 knots. We had previously reported that the LA county sheriff’s department had said, "there were no survivors. We have a manifest to indicate there were nine people on board of the aircraft. The pilot plus eight individuals."
Bryant is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all-time and was a first-round pick in the 1996 draft. His wife Vanessa was confirmed not to be on the aircraft. The couple had got married in 2001. Bryant won around 5 NBA championships, 2 NBA Finals MVPs and was also the league MVP in 2008.
The 'Lakers' retired both of Bryant's jerseys- number 8 and 25, making him the only player in the team's history to receive this honor.