Kobe Bryant’s helicopter pilot had permission to fly in bad weather, officials say
A helicopter that crashed Sunday, killing Kobe Bryant and eight others, was operating under special flight rules for bad weather, The New York Times reports.
Nine people died in the crash outside of Los Angeles, including Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
Federal investigators are looking into what happened to the helicopter when it crashed in Calabasas. The helicopter was flying in foggy conditions when it went down, according to multiple reports.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76B, left Orange County’s John Wayne Airport at 9:06 a.m., the Los Angeles Times reports.
The first call about the crash to 911 came at 9:47 a.m., ESPN reports.
The fog in the area was so bad Sunday morning that police and the sheriff’s department in the area had grounded their helicopters, according to the LA Times.
“The weather situation did not meet our minimum standards for flying,” Los Angeles police spokesman Josh Rubenstein said, according to ESPN.
The Burbank Airport control tower had authorized the helicopter’s pilot to fly under “special visual flight rules,” an air-traffic conversation shows, KTLA reported. Those rules are more stringent than visual flight rules allowed under normal conditions.
The crash happened in mountainous terrain, making it difficult for first responders to get to the scene, according to KABC. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva called the crash site a “logistical nightmare,” the station reported.
Firefighters had to hike to the helicopter crash site, The New York Times reports.
Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jonathan Lucas said it could take days to recover all the bodies, KABC reported.
“We will be doing our work thoroughly, quickly and with the utmost compassion,” he said, according to The New York Times. “We’re doing everything we can to confirm identifications and give closure to the families involved.”
The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, the fire department said. NTSB typically delivers a preliminary report within 10 days, but a final report can take investigators a year or more.
The victims
There were eight passengers and a pilot on board the helicopter when it crashed. They all died in the crash.
Kobe Bryant was on board with his daughter Gianna. Bryant, remembered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, was 41. Bryant is survived by his wife Vanessa and three other daughters, the youngest of whom was born in June, CNN reports.
Bryant will be inducted into the pro Basketball Hall of Fame in August, USA Today reports. He had earlier been nominated for the 2020 class. The other inductees will be announced in April.
Gianna Bryant, 13, was described as a “budding basketball star herself” by KABC. Her father coached her basketball team. They were on their way to a basketball game at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California.
John Altobelli, head baseball coach for Orange Coast College, was also on board with his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, the college said. He had coached the championship baseball team for 27 years, according to the school.
“He truly personified what it means to be a baseball coach. The passion that he put into the game, but more importantly his athletes, was second to none - he treated them like family,” the college said.
Christina Mauser, who helped coach basketball at a private school in Orange County, also died in the crash, CNN reports.
Her husband, Matthew Mauser, told NBC’s TODAY that he and his wife coached basketball at the school Bryant’s daughters attend. Bryant asked Christina Mauser to help coach the team, Matthew Mauser said on NBC.
“He asked her to teach the kids defense,” he said. “They called her the mother of defense.”
Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, a middle school student, were also on the helicopter, CBS News reports.
Harbor View Elementary School principal Todd Schmidt said on Facebook, “While the world mourns the loss of a dynamic athlete and humanitarian, I mourn the loss of two people just as important...their impact was just as meaningful, their loss will be just as keenly felt, and our hearts are just as broken,” CNN reports. Payton attended elementary school at Harbor View, according to the network.
Authorities have not yet named the pilot involved in the crash.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Kobe Bryant’s helicopter pilot had permission to fly in bad weather, officials say."
