Crews recover all crash bodies
THE bodies of all nine passengers aboard the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, California on Sunday have been recovered, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-coroner says.
The crash took the lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, along with the pilot and six others.
Bryant was on his way to his youth basketball camp in Thousand Oaks when the helicopter went down in heavy fog.
Coroner’s investigators were able to recover three bodies on the day of the crash.
The remaining six were located and recovered on Monday, the coroner’s office said in a statement. All of the crash victims have been publicly identified.
On Tuesday afternoon, the coroner’s office confirmed the identities of four victims: Bryant, pilot Ara Zobayan, Sarah Chester, and John Altobelli.
At a press conference on Tuesday, National Transportation Safety Board member Jennifer Homendy said the helicopter was descending at a rate of more than 2000 feet per minute at the time of the crash – saying it was a “high-energy impact”.
Ms Homendy noted that the Sikorsky S-76B did not have a “terrain awareness and warning system” – or TAWS, which can provide aural and visual alerts to the pilot if the aircraft gets too close to the ground.
She said that in 2004, the NTSB had recommended that all helicopters with six or more seats be outfitted with TAWS.
The Federal Aviation Administration responded in 2006, saying it would consider the suggestion.
“The FAA needs to verify that the current equipment is well suited for helicopter applications and appropriate to the flight regime,” the agency wrote.
THE FAA NEEDS TO VERIFY THAT THE CURRENT EQUIPMENT IS WELL SUITED FOR HELICOPTER APPLICATIONS
“Equipment must have a low incidence of ‘false’ or ‘nuisance’ alarms which, if present, detract from the overall safety benefit of the equipment when installed in helicopters.”
The recommendation was not adopted, but TAWS is required for helicopters acting as air ambulances, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
Ms Homendy said the investigators had recovered the wreckage of the helicopter on Tuesday, and had completed their work on site.
A preliminary report is expected within 10 days, while a more detailed investigative report – with the cause and any recommendations – will be issued in 12-18 months.