Basketball star Kobe Bryant’s helicopter pilot was given special clearance to fly in foggy conditions – which even police considered unsuitable for their choppers.
Bryant’s helicopter slammed into a hill in Calabasas, near Los Angeles, on Sunday, killing the 41-year-old, his daughter Gianna, 13, and seven others.
At one point the pilot was warned he was flying too low for “flight following”, meaning he could not be picked up by radar to be guided by air traffic control.
Bryant’s helicopter left Santa Ana in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, just after 9am, when visibility was so poor that Los Angeles Police Department said it grounded its helicopters.
An audio recording revealed the pilot asked to fly under special visual flight rules – SVFR.
Although the official cause of the crash has not been determined, a conversation between pilot Ara Zobayan and Burbank Airport control tower shed some light on events.
Under SVFR, pilots are allowed to fly in conditions worse than those permitted for visual flight rules – VFR.
SVFR clearance is only issued when cloud ceilings are below 1,000 feet above ground. Flying that low can be disorienting and risky.
Burbank allowed Zobayan to fly northeast, following the Interstate 5 highway with SVFR.
“Maintain special VFR at or below 2,500,” Zobayan confirmed to the controller. Later, he asked for “flight following” – which puts controllers in regular contact with an aircraft. The controller told him “2 echo X-ray, you’re still too low level for flight following at this time”.
The pilot waited 15 minutes to land at Burbank as other flights took off. He requested SVFR clearance to land, then climbed to 2,000ft before descending at a rate of more than 4,000ft per minute. He flew into a hill at about 1,400ft at a speed of 185mph, data shows.
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the hunt for clues was a “logistical nightmare”, as the crash site “is not easily accessible”. Efforts to recover the bodies could take days, given the terrain and site condition, authorities said.
David Beckham, 44, paid tribute to LA Lakers legend Bryant on social media.
They became pals when the Manchester United star moved to LA Galaxy in 2007. He said: “My words won’t ever be enough to describe how I am feeling after the tragic loss of Kobe. This was one special athlete, husband, father, and friend.”
Zobayan died in the crash, as did baseball coach John Altobelli, 56, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa.
Another young player, Payton Chester, was killed along with her mother Sarah.Christina Mauser, 38, a coach of Gianna’s Mamba Academy team, also died.
Meanwhile the son of fellow basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal was one of the last people to hear from Bryant.
Shareef O’Neal posted a screengrab on Twitter of a Sunday morning text chat.
“You good fam?” Bryant asked Shareef, who had announced he was leaving UCLA. “Yeah! Just getting this work in trying to figure out my next move.”
Shareef answered: “How you been?”
