Details continue to surface about the final moments before a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and 8 others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, California. The weather was previously believed to be an issue but other details show how rapidly the aircraft was descending.
According to a report from the Hollywood Reporter, the aircraft made a hard left before making a rapid and “terrifying descent” of 1,200 feet in a minute.
“This is a pretty steep descent at high speed,” Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said. “We know that this was a high-energy impact crash.”
An investigation into the crash by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration continues and authorities are still searching for a reason to explain why the pilot would have made such a sharp and immediate descent before the fatal crash.
From the report:
Praying for everyone affected by this. . John and Keri Altobelli, and their daughter Alyssa. John Altobelli was the head baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. He also played for the University of Houston. Alyssa played on the same basketball team as Bryan's daughter. . Christina Mauser was an assistant basketball coach and mother of three. . Sarah Chester and her young teen daughter Payton Chester. . Ara Zobayan Zobayan was the pilot in Sunday's crash. FAA records show he received his commercial pilot certificate in 2007. . #kobebryant #rip
Pilot Ara Zobayan had been climbing out of the clouds when the aircraft banked left and began a sudden and terrifying 1,200-foot descent that lasted nearly a minute.
Our deepest condolences continue to go out to the Bryant family, and the families of the other 7 victims — John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli and Alyssa Altobelli, Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and Payton Chester, and pilot Ara Zobayan — who tragically lost their lives.
