Kobe Bryant death: A look at the S-76 helicopter series and their past crashes
Former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died in a tragic helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on Sunday, January 26.
Bryant had been traveling along with nine other people when his private helicopter crashed. It had also been reported that a fire had broken out. The helicopter that the basketball legend was in was a Sikorsky S-76B with tail number N72EX that was owned by Island Express Holding Corp, as per FAA records.
The S-76B is believed to be much safer and is preferred by celebrities. As reported by the LA Times, a former pilot for Island Express Helicopters, Kurt Deetz compared the S-76B to a "Cadillac, a limousine — it’s limo-esque." He added that its sister model is the S-76A. The Sikorsky S-76 series is an American commercial utility helicopter that was manufactured by the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
While the S-76B does not have any notable prior crashes, the S-76 as a series has seen some unfortunate and tragic crashes:
S-76A crash in Bristow, 2002
A Norwich-based commercial Sikorsky S-76A helicopter operated by Bristow Helicopters tragically crashed on the evening of July 16, 2002. The crash took place in the southern North Sea when it was doing a 10-minute trip between the gas production platform Clipper and the drilling rig 'Global Santa Fe Monarch'. Investigators had found that the accident was caused by the failure of the main rotor blade. All 11 people on board died and there were no survivors.
S-76C+ OH-HCI crash in Tallinn Bay, 2005
A Sikorsky S-76C+ met with a fatal crash around three to four minutes after taking off. There were 2 Finnish crew members and 12 passengers including 6 Finnish, 4 Estonians and 2 Americans. There were no survivors from the crash. The helicopter lost its steerability and crashed into the ocean. The emergency floats that the helicopter has for water landings did not deploy.
S-76 C++ crash in Istanbul, 2017
On March 10, 2017, a Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter crashed in Istanbul in Turkey and killed all seven people on board. The helicopter had departed in heavy fog and around six minutes after takeoff had hit the Endem TV Tower and crashed onto the State Road D100 highway.
S-76 crash in Canada, 2013
A Sikorsky S-76A met with an accident on May 31, 2013, killing all four people — two pilots and two paramedics — on board. The accident took place around midnight and there were no patients on board.