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Everything we know - and what we don't - about the fatal helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and 7 others
Everything we know - and what we don't - about the fatal helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and 7 others
Jan 27, 2020, 22:51 IST
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gigi members of her basketball team, and their families boarded Bryant's private helicopter at Orange County's John Wayne Airport on Sunday morning.
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The Bryants were likely coming from their home in Newport Beach, Orange County. Gigi went to the region's private Harbor Day School.
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All nine people on the flight had been headed toward the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where Bryant often coached his daughter.
The helicopter was a Sikorsky S-76, which Bryant used to avoid traffic between his house and Los Angeles, as well as to help teammates get to doctors appointments.
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The jet took off at 9:06 a.m. local time Sunday morning.
The area had been grappling with intense fog at the time. It was so bad that the LAPD grounded all its own helicopters that morning.
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The helicopter continued to ascend steadily, and at around 9:20 a.m. circled over Glendale for about 10 minutes. Around this time the helicopter pilot also called flight control authorities.
Around this time flight control authorities told the pilot he was flying "too low."
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At 9:40 a.m., somewhere over Granada Hills neighborhood, the helicopter changed path and turned toward the mountainous Thousand Oaks.
Minutes later — around 9:45 a.m. — the helicopter crashed into a hilly area in Thousand Oaks at around 1,700 feet. It had been flying at around 153 knots, or 176 miles per hour, at the time, FlightRadar24 said.
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This map shows the helicopter's exact flight path.
Responders were called to the site at 9:47 a.m. The crash had ignited a brush fire within a quarter-acre radius, the LA Times reported.
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The LA County coroner's office said Sunday night that recovery efforts could take at least two days due to the fog conditions.
Questions remain about the crash, however. Why did Bryant's party fly despite the poor weather conditions? Whose decision was it to take off?
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Why did the plane fly toward Thousand Oaks in its last minutes, and why did it circle the area several times before doing so?
Was there anything wrong with the jet during the flight?
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The NTSB and FAA are now investigating the matter. A NTSB spokesman told Business Insider part of its "Go Team" arrived in California Sunday night, with the rest due to arrive Monday.