I was asked to confirm Kobe’s death

“There's been a lot of talk of me being a one-man show but that's simply not the case. We win games when I score 40 points and we've won when I score 10.”

—KOBE BRYANT

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

I JUST arrived in New York City’s Flushing district from Connecticut when I received calls from colleagues in the Philippine broadcast media while still inside the bus at past seven o’clock in the evening on January 26, 2020.

They were asking about the veracity of reports that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in California earlier that day.

Exactly two hours earlier while in Ledyard, Connecticut, I monitored the “flash” report and the news was so shocking every news outlet was focusing on the big story. 

I convinced myself the footage taken on the crash site was real and could not be manufactured, otherwise leading news networks wouldn’t report it like there was a national emergency.

Others thought it was a hoax or a “fake news” but I knew it was real.

From the bus, I sought sanctuary inside a commercial bank in Flushing pretending to use the ATM machine, but my intention was to use the area in order to focus on the long distance inquiries and be able to give a detailed report.

I confirmed the news and answered some of the questions from my Philippine broadcast media colleagues who started airing the “major” news in their respective radio programs.

The stories about COVID-19 weren’t yet earthshaking at that moment since it wasn’t yet a pandemic, thus the news about Bryant’s death sent shockwaves all over the world where basketball is a religion.  

 

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Bryant's death in that helicopter mishap was one of those moments people will always remember where they were when they heard the news.

"A lot of guys dropped to the floor and started crying," said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr of his team's practice that day. "Nothing happened for 10 minutes. We all just sat there in silence. It was one of the worst moments of all of our lives. I don't think any of us will ever forget that day."

To mark the first anniversary, USA TODAY Sports looked back at that day and the days since It happened. 

Those who knew Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and the seven others who died were still reportedly trying to make sense of the crash, as are those who were fans of the NBA legend.

When the helicopter careened into a California hillside on the morning of Jan. 26, 2020, killing Kobe Bryant and the eight others on board, the initial response around the world was shock.

There were so many hows: How did this seemingly routine trip to a youth basketball game end in tragedy? How did the helicopter that Bryant used for years suddenly crash? How could this possibly have happened?

The facts surrounding the crash – from the pilot's experience, to the weather conditions, to the helicopter's safety features – are known one year later.

And a final determination on what caused the crash is now reportedly just weeks away.

 

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It was reported that the National Transportation Safety Board was set to release its final report on the incident on Feb. 9, including a proximate cause and subsequent safety recommendations.

The board has released 1,852 pages of factual evidence collected during its investigation, including interview transcripts, email records, text messages, photos, meteorological reports and video footage from cameras in the area, in the meantime.

"Accident investigation is really like putting a puzzle back together," said Anthony Brickhouse, a former NTSB investigator who is now an associate professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as reported in USA TODAY. 

"(It's) really a meticulous process. It’s not something that happens overnight. It requires a lot of digging, a lot of research."

As investigators put the finishing touches on that final report, here's everything we know about the crash, based on documents released by the NTSB to date as reported by the USA TODAY:

At 8:39 on the morning of the crash, pilot Ara Zobayan sent a text message to the small group of people coordinating Bryant's trip – including his drivers, concierge and a representative from the helicopter company.

"Heli at OC," Zobayan wrote. "Standing by."

 

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Thirty minutes later, the helicopter was in the air, traveling from John Wayne-Orange County Airport to Camarillo, California, where the passengers would then be driven to a youth basketball game in nearby Thousand Oaks. Bryant was joined on the flight by his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna; John and Keri Altobelli and their daughter, Alyssa; Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton; and Christina Mauser, an assistant coach. 

The helicopter flew north for about 15 minutes before slowing down and circling near Glendale to make way for air traffic at a nearby airport. Then it followed a highway into the hills near Calabasas, flying between 400 feet and 600 feet above the ground.

"You just going to stay down low at that for all the way to Camarillo?" an air traffic controller asked Zobayan.

"Yes sir," the pilot replied. "Low altitude."

Minutes later, there was a shift change at the Southern California TRACON, which provides air traffic control services to airports in the region. And the helicopter was heading into increasingly mountainous terrain, where visibility that morning was poor.

When the new air traffic controller contacted Zobayan, the pilot said he was climbing above the clouds, to 4,000 feet. Instead, the helicopter got no more than 1,600 feet above the ground before banking left and descending rapidly, crashing into the hills. 

"That combination of the low-lying stratus layer, and also the relatively high-rising terrain – (it's) a common and, really, a deadly combination," said Jack Cress, a former helicopter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps who is now an instructor in the Aviation Safety & Security Program at the University of Southern California.

Bryant regularly traveled by helicopter during and after his NBA career, in part to avoid the oft-gridlocked traffic in Los Angeles. And he regularly chartered flights with Island Express Helicopters, including 13 trips in 2019.

In fact, the helicopter involved in the crash – a Sikorsky S-76B – was the same machine that transported Bryant to his final game with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2016.

Cress said the Sikorsky S-76 is generally well-regarded among pilots and has a strong safety record over decades of use. He noted that it has been the "helicopter of choice" for Queen Elizabeth II, among other top dignitaries, since 2009. Rest in peace, Kobe and all victims in that fatal chopper crash.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)