Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, 41, died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020. There were eight other people aboard the flight, including Bryant’s daughter Gianna, 13. Everyone aboard the craft died when it crashed into a hillside near Malibu at approximately 9:47 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Crash Victims
Bryant was on his way to coach Gianna’s team, the Lady Mavericks, in a basketball game at his Mamba Sports Academy training facility in Thousand Oaks. Additionally, a manifest showed the following nine people were aboard:
1. Kobe Bryant
2 . Gianna Bryant, 13
3. John Altobelli, 56
4 .Keri Altobelli, John’s wife
5 .Alyssa Altobelli, John and Keri’s daughter and a teammate of Gianna’s at Mamba Sports Academy.
6. Payton Chester, another teammate of Gianna’s
7. Sarah Chester, Payton’s mom
8. Christina Mauser, the girls’ basketball coach at Harbor Day School in Newport Beach
9 . Ara Zobayan, the helicopter’s pilot
John Altobelli was a baseball coach at Orange Coast College. He had also been the head coach of Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape Cod Baseball League (2012-2014).
The Aircraft
The helicopter was a Sikorsky S-76B, built in 1991. This model, and most S-76 models, have strong safety records. The model has twin turboshaft engines and will seat two pilots and up to 12 passengers. It is not clear why there was only one pilot during this flight.
Tail number N72EX departed John Wayne Airport at 9:06 a.m.
The Flight
The cause of the crash was not immediately apparent. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database shows no prior incidents or accidents for the helicopter, which was registered to the Island Express Holding Corp., based in Fillmore, California. However, fog in the Orange County and Los Angeles area created very low visibility conditions. In fact, the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its helicopters because of the fog well until afternoon that same day.
Zobayan, the pilot of Bryant’s helicopter, was able to fly under “special visual flight rules,” or SVFR. The Sikorsky S-76B had SVFR instrumentation that allowed trained pilots to fly in weather conditions worse than those allowed for standard visual flight rules.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NTSB are investigating the crash, assisted by the FBI, which is standard practice.
KTLA’s Christina Pascucci tweeted that Zobayan was an experienced flyer and taught aspiring helicopter pilots.
The Crash
Air traffic controllers at the Burbank Airport control tower were in communication with Bryant’s helicopter as it flew northeast above Interstate 5, under SVFR clearance. The controller advised Zobayan to maintain an altitude of around 2500 feet.
Then the pilot requested flight following, which means maintaining ongoing contact with the controllers. The controllers advised him that he was flying too low for flight following, as the helicopter was at around 1500 feet. That’s when communications cut off completely.
After that point, the craft ascended to 2,000 feet, but then began descending rapidly. It flew into the Calabasas hillside at about 1,400 feet at a speed of 185 mph.
Aviation experts say that after a 40-minute flight, the craft would have had about 800 pounds of fuel on board. At 9:47 a.m. 911 operators began receiving calls about a massive explosion that was a result of the impact and all that fuel. The fireball burned about a quarter-acre area near Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street in Calabasas. 56 fire personnel, including firefighters, paramedics, hand crews, and sheriff’s deputies responded. No one on the ground was hurt.
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