Last moments of Kobe Bryant’s chopper crash revealed
Moments before Los Angeles basketball great Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and the seven others perished in a helicopter crash, the pilot had tried to climb out of layer of clouds, but the aircraft then banked sharply and lurched towards the ground.
Investigators have recovered the bodies of all nine people who died in the crash, the coroner’s office said. The twin-engine Sikorsky S-76B slammed into a hillside 60 seconds later and burst into flames, according to details of Sunday’s crash revealed on Tuesday by federal aviation safety officials. The death of Bryant, 41, an 18-time NBA all-star and one of the most admired athletes around the globe, sent shockwaves through the sports and entertainment worlds.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board estimated Bryant’s luxury passenger helicopter hit the ground at a speed of more than 610 m per minute. “This is a pretty steep descent at high speed,” NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy told a briefing. “The time from descent to impact was probably about a minute.”
Radar data showed the helicopter had ascended to 2,300 feet - “he was trying to climb out of the cloud layer at the time” - and then began a left descending turn before air traffic control lost contact it, Homendy said.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reinstated reporter FeliciaSonmez who tweeted about historic sexual allegations against Bryant soon after his death.