Kobe Bryant death: Private choppers often violate safety norms as they have own rules, we need stricter guidelines
The death of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on Sunday, January 26 has seen many questioning the safety of such private aircraft, especially since they're governed by considerably different rules from commercial ones.
MEAWW previously reported that flight tracker data from the basketball legend's helicopter had shown that the aircraft had encountered bad weather minutes before it crashed.
And while investigators are still working to determine the exact reason behind the accident, witnesses in and around the area said they had never seen fog and low clouds this thick before, and that it may have been down to "visibility."
"I was sitting on my couch when I heard it go over our roof. I thought to myself, 'Wow they’re flying really low today," Calabasas resident Matt Graham revealed. "It must’ve been about 100 feet above our roof by the way the house was shaking."
"I’ve never seen anything like it [the fog]," he added. "If anyone says that they actually saw it (the crash), they’re lying. Nobody could see anything because it was so foggy."
Those conditions would have meant that no regulated aircraft would have been given permission to fly at the time, according to Aviation Law Monitor, which noted that "helicopters largely operate under their own set of rules."
Those different sets of rules would have also prevented other aircraft from flying as low as Bryant's helicopter. Planes are required to stay "500 feet above any person and 1000 feet above any person or building in a populated area" but helicopters can get as close to a building or person as they want as long as the flight poses no "hazard to persons or property on the surface."
The rules also ensure airplanes "cannot fly unless the weather conditions allow certain minimum visibility," though helicopters are allowed to operate even when "flight visibility is below 1 statute mile when required for other aircraft."
People reported that helicopter crashes in the U.S. have gone up in the past few years, with 2017 seeing 121 crashes causing 34 fatalities, up from 108 accidents and 29 fatalities in 2016.
Late last year, state lawmakers in Hawaii had even tried to have federal officials ground all helicopter tours in the islands after a fatal crash in Kailua. They wanted to determine if they were safe before they were allowed to operate, though the request eventually came to nothing.
Bryant is survived by his wife, Vanessa, and their daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, seven-months-old.
