New Details Have Come To Light About Kobe Bryant's Sudden Passing
On January 26, 2020, the NBA star Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others tragically lost their lives in a shocking helicopter crash. And three years later — as the families struggle to mourn the loss of their loved ones — more details have emerged about the fatal impact. They reveal more about Kobe's final moments and what likely caused the helicopter crash that took his life. But we've also learned of the horrendous actions of some of Los Angeles County's employees.
The people we lost
Those who traveled on that fateful flight were: Kobe and Gianna; John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli; Sarah and Payton Chester; Christina Mauser; Ara Zobayan. Payton Chester and Alyssa Altobelli were Gianna's teammates on an Orange County girls' basketball team, and Mauser was the assistant coach. Zobayan was the pilot. The flight took off at 9:06 a.m. — but a report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in February 2021 revealed that conditions were particularly poor that day.
What happened
But pilot Zobayan had been in touch with the people organizing Kobe's travel plans the night before the flight. According to text messages uncovered by the NTSB, the pilot told Kobe's team that the weather was "not the best." But in the morning, he texted, "Should be OK," and the flight went as planned. Yet the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded their helicopters because of low clouds and fog.
What happened that day
The flight began as expected, though the limited visibility forced Zobayan to stay low below the clouds as he flew above the path of the I-5. Then, as the chopper approached Glendale, controllers from Hollywood Burbank Airport put it in a holding pattern for 11 minutes. The controllers allowed the flight to continue under special visual flight rules at 9:32 a.m. The helicopter would crash 13 minutes later.
Into the clouds
At around 9:44 a.m., Zobayan radioed to a nearby control tower that he was climbing above the clouds to 4,000 feet. It was the last communication he made. The helicopter reportedly only managed to climb to roughly 1,600 feet — and then it banked left and quickly started to lose altitude. It crashed into the hills around Calabasas shortly afterward.
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