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Sports
Helicopter Carrying Kobe Bryant Made Climbing Turn Before Rapid Dive
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The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight other passengers that crashed into a hillside in Southern California on Sun- day was in a climbing left turn about 2,400 feet high before it dove to the ground, a person familiar with pre- liminary investigative infor- mation about the fatal crash told ESPN.
The source, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, told ESPN the pilot had, only moments be- fore, contacted air traffic controllers to say that he had begun a climb to "go above the layer" of clouds present.
The chopper went down in Calabasas, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, after departing John Wayne Airport in Or- ange County at 9:06 a.m. PT. The first 911 call reporting the crash was received at 9:47 a.m.
Audio reviewed by ESPN indicates that a few minutes prior to the crash, an air traf- fic controller told the pilot he was "still too low level for flight following," meaning the aircraft was below the
Wreckage of the crashed helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others.
level at which it could be picked up by radar due to the area's hilly terrain. That audio came from recordings posted on LiveATC.net, which has partial audio of the communication between the pilot and air traffic con- trollers.
Additional recordings be- tween the pilot and air traffic controllers posted on the site indicate that the pilot was getting guidance from con- trollers as he navigated what was reported to be a dense morning fog.
Air traffic controllers noted poor visibility around Burbank, just to the north, and Van Nuys, to the north- west.
After holding up the heli-
copter for other aircraft, they cleared the Sikorsky S-76 to proceed north along Inter- state 5 through Burbank be- fore turning west to follow U.S. Route 101, the Ventura Highway.
Shortly after 9:40 a.m., the helicopter turned again, toward the southeast, and climbed to more than 2,000 feet above sea level. It then descended and crashed into the hillside at about 1,400 feet, according to data from Flightradar24.
When it struck the ground, the helicopter was flying at about 160 knots (184 mph) and descending at a rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute (45 mph), the Flightradar24 data showed.
Kyrie Irving Leaves Arena After Learning Of Kobe Bryant's Death, Misses Knicks Game
Kyrie Irving reportedly left Madison Square Garden on Sunday after learning of Kobe Bryant’s death and didn’t play for the Brooklyn Nets against the New York Knicks.
The Nets announced Irv- ing’s absence shortly before 5 p.m. ET, a little over an hour before the game’s 6 p.m. tip. The team, in the an- nouncement, cited “personal reasons.”
Irving and Bryant shared a tight friendship. “I have an unbelievable men- torship, friendship with him,” Irving said during an appearance on ESPN in 2017.
Bryant, in 2019, spoke about Irving during an ap- pearance on SiriusXM. “You had MJ; who would be that mentee for you?” the host asked. “Kyrie, certainly,”
KOBE BRYANT AND KYRIE IRVING
was the first name that came to Kobe’s mind.
“I remember sitting on the couch at home, after Cleveland came back from that 3-1 deficit and beat Golden State,” Bryant said. “We’re watching the game, me and Gianna are just there, hanging out. And my phone rings. And it’s a Face- Time call. ... It’s Kyrie. I pick it up. And Kyrie’s in the locker room celebrating on
FaceTime. Like, ‘Dude! It worked! Your advice worked!’”
Irving, Bryant remem- bered, said hi to Gianna as well on the phone that night. “I’d say Kyrie’s probably the one I’m closest to,” Bryant said. It’s no wonder, then, that Irving was greatly af- fected by the death of Bryant and his daughter.
“We have a player who was very close to Kobe,” Nets coach Kenny Atkin- son confirmed prior to Sun- day’s game. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him also.”
Atkinson fought back tears as he addressed the as- sembled media. “As an or- ganization, we’re devastated. Our players are devastated,” he said. He did not take any questions.
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