Federal investigators on Monday began an intense investigation into the cause of the Calabasas helicopter crash that killed all nine on board including Kobe Bryant.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76 built in 1991, departed John Wayne Airport at 9:06 a.m. Sunday, according to publicly available flight records. The chopper passed over Boyle Heights, near Dodger Stadium, and circled over Glendale during the flight. The crash occurred shortly before 10 a.m. near Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street in Calabasas.The potential risks were serious enough that law enforcement choppers were grounded.
“The weather situation did not meet our minimum standards for flying,” Rubenstein said. The fog “was enough that we were not flying.” Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for Island Express Helicopters who used to fly Bryant in the chopper, said weather conditions were poor in Van Nuys on Sunday morning — “not good at all.”“The likelihood of a catastrophic twin engine failure on that aircraft, it just doesn’t happen,” Deetz said.Bad weather would not necessarily have prevented Bryant’s helicopter from flying because it should have been equipped with instruments that allow pilots to fly in inclement conditions, experts said.
Aviation consultant William Lawrence, a retired Marine Corps colonel and helicopter test pilot and instructor, said investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, which has dispatched a team to the crash site, should have little trouble determining whether it was a mechanical failure or weather-related, or both.Even if the pilot had been flying on instruments, the helicopter could have experienced a mechanical problem.
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