Report: Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter Was Given Special Approval To Fly Through Fog

Topline: The New York Times reported Monday that the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter that crashed and killed Kobe Bryant and eight others aboard on Sunday in Calabasas, California, was given special approval to fly in foggy weather, which typically grounds L.A.P.D. helicopters.

• Citing audio records between the pilot and air traffic control, the Times reported that the helicopter was given “Special Visual Flight Rules” clearance in order to fly in Sunday morning’s foggy weather.
• The approval allowed the pilot to fly by what are known as “instrument rules,” in which the pilot relies on referencing instruments in the flight deck to steer the aircraft, while navigation is accomplished by referring to electronic signals; it can also refer to the kind of flight plan an aircraft is flying. 
• According to the Times, L.A.P.D helicopters typically will not fly in such foggy conditions, and visibility Sunday morning was less than two and a half miles from the department’s downtown Los Angeles heliport. 
• The Times said that the special approval could likely become the center of the crash investigation, which both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have begun. 

Key background: Along with Bryant, the eight other victims are his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, pilot Ara Zobayan, Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri Altobelli, and their daughter Alyssa Altobelli, as well as Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton Chester, and basketball coach Christina Mauser. 

Timeline: The helicopter took off at 9 a.m. local time Sunday, flying north over Los Angeles and before heading west over Ventura Freeway before turning south into the Santa Monica Mountains. The chopper was descending at a very high rate of 4,200 feet per second from 1,700 feet before the flight’s tracking data abruptly cut off. 

News peg:  Bryant spent his entire 20 year NBA career playing for the Los Angeles Lakers until he retired in 2016. The 18-time All Star won five NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals and an Oscar in 2018 for writing and narrating “Dear Basketball,” an animated short about his childhood dreams of playing in the NBA.

Tangent: The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter is a 12-passenger luxury aircraft. It’s favored for transporting VIP’s and business executives, and has also been used as a medevac and offshore oil shuttle. It also has a solid safety record.  

Further reading: 

Kobe Bryant Was A Basketball Giant: A Look At His Life On And Off The Court (Kurt Badenhousen)

Helicopter In Kobe Bryant Crash Considered A Safe VIP Aircraft, But Flight Conditions May Have Been Difficult (Jeremy Bogaisky)