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“Larger than life” – US basketball legend Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles on Sunday.
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Dukas
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The helicopter with Bryant and eight other people on board crashed on a mountain in Los Angeles.
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flightradar24
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The flight route of the accident machine.
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GC Images
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One thing is already certain: the pilot announced major problems with the flight due to the strong fog.
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Newly released material shows how the last minutes of NBA legend Kobe Bryant († 41) played, who died in a helicopter accident in his hometown Los Angeles on Sunday. His 13-year-old daughter Gigi, her girlfriend of the same age, and her mother and father died at his side. He was the coach of the girls’ basketball team. The group was on a game for the girls.
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Authorities say the helicopter plunged nearly 150 meters in just 15 seconds before crashing into a hill and killing all nine people on board. Previously, the machine had been flying in a circle for around 15 minutes, while air traffic control released the airspace and the helicopter wanted to make its way to its final destination in thick fog.
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The twin-engine Sikorsky S-76 never arrived there. The machine crashed into a valley in the Santa Monica Mountains. Debris was scattered over an area the size of a soccer field on impact, US media reports. Shortly before the catastrophic impact, pilot Ara Zobayan (50) tried to turn the machine southwest. There is evidence that he was disoriented.
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Instrument flight without visibility?
When the group started at 9.06 local time from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana in Southern California to the Mamba Sports Academy at Kobe Bryant in Thousand Oaks, the weather was foggy.
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Weather conditions worsened 14 minutes after take-off, and as the helicopter approached Burbank at 9:20 a.m., the pilot began circling the airspace over the LA neighborhood. He did this for almost a quarter of an hour, maintaining constant contact with air traffic control.
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The air traffic controller at Burbank Airport began clearing the airspace of all other aircraft so that the pilot of Bryant’s machine could continue to fly despite the bad weather conditions. As it turns out now, the pilot apparently flew out of sight during this phase and had to rely on his instruments on board.
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With 280 kilometers per hour in the mountain
At 9.39 a.m. – the airspace was cleared for Bryant’s group – pilot Zobayan asked the Van Nuys airport tower for permission to turn south-west. The tower approved the change of course and asked the pilot if he could resume the visual flight. The pilot answered in the affirmative and there was no radio contact for almost two minutes. A tower asked the pilot to identify the machine, but only silence.
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At this point the helicopter had started a rapid descent from a height of around 450 meters. At 9.42 a.m. there was again communication with the tower – 40 seconds before the crash. The tower still warned that the pilot was flying too low for the onward flight at this time. In the wording: “You’re still too low for flight following at this time.”
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The helicopter rose to 2125 feet, the equivalent of 648 meters – possibly to avoid the bad weather. Then suddenly the machine sagged at a rapid pace, crashed into the mountain at a speed of 280 km / h and went up in a fireball.
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Pilot responsibility?
The latest data, which the death flight still transmitted, indicated a fall of 150 meters in 15 seconds. Then the radio contact was gone and the 911 emergency call received the first reports of a crash.
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The question remains why the plane set off while most of the other Los Angeles helicopters stayed on the ground due to the fog – including the Los Angeles Police Fleet. Why does he always fly? Bryant once answered this question with touching words because he was a father. To spend a few more minutes with his children.
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Who made the decision to fly despite dangerous weather? Pilot Zobayan had the necessary registration documents for flying in fog. He could have had a say in whether he should fly or not. This decision is ultimately up to the pilot. Whether Zobayan made this decision or someone else, the question will be the focus of the investigation. (KES)
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