Dramatic pictures have revealed how Kobe Bryant's helicopter exploded into a fireball after it plunged 1,000 feet into a hillside on Sunday, killing the NBA legend and eight others.
Photos taken in the aftermath of the crash show the flaming wreckage of the chopper after the pilot had told air traffic controllers he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer.
The witness who took the photos said he saw 'helicopter parts flying everywhere' after the aircraft emerged from 'out of the fog' and exploded into a 'huge fireball'.
Pilot Ara Zobayan had asked for and received special clearance to fly in heavy fog just minutes before the crash and was flying at 1,400 feet when he went south and then west, an accident investigator said Monday.
Dramatic pictures have revealed how Kobe Bryant's helicopter exploded into a fireball after it plunged 1,000 feet into a hillside on Sunday, killing the NBA legend and eight others
They also revealed there was no black box on board but instead an iPad which was used for flight itinerary as the crash site in Calabasas, California is being actively patrolled for looters by officers on horseback.
Pilot Zobayan asked for air traffic controllers to provide 'flight following' radar assistance but was told the craft was too low for that assistance, Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Photos taken in the aftermath of the crash show the flaming wreckage of the chopper after the pilot had told air traffic controllers he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer
About four minutes later, 'the pilot advised they were climbing to avoid a cloud layer,' she said. 'When ATC asked what the pilot planned to do, there was no reply. Radar data indicates the helicopter climbed to 2,300 feet and then began a left descending turn.' The wreckage was found at 1,085 feet.
Homendy said last radar contact was around 9:45 a.m. Two minutes later, someone on the ground called 911 to report the crash. All nine people on board the aircraft, including the former NBA superstar and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died.
The pilot of Kobe Bryant's helicopter told air traffic controllers in his last radio message that he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer before plunging more than 1,000 feet into a hillside, an accident investigator said Monday
NTSB investigators went to the crash site in Calabasas on Monday to collect evidence. 'The debris field is pretty extensive,' Homendy said. 'A piece of the tail is down the hill,' she said. 'The fuselage is on the other side of that hill. And then the main rotor is about 100 yards beyond that.'
The witness who saw the helicopter come down, and took the pictures of the flaming wreckage, told The Sun that he had seen the aircraft crash into the hillside just 200 feet from where he was standing.
Passers-by spotted the fire engulfing the crashed helicopter on Sunday morning after it came down in thick fog
'One of the helicopter doors landed about 10 to 15 feet away from us. Helicopter parts were flying everywhere. There was very little left of the helicopter.'
The man, who had been mountain biking with a friend, went to the crash site to see if they could help but found there were no survivors.
Horse-mounted sherriffs patrol the area at the helicopter crash site of NBA star Kobe Bryant in Calabasas
They did not realise that Kobe Bryant was involved until they were back at the foot of the hill, he said.
Some experts suggested that the pilot might have gotten disoriented because of fog but Homendy said investigating teams would look at everything from the pilot's history to the engines. 'We look at man, machine and the environment,' she said. 'And weather is just a small portion of that.'
Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters and coroner staff recover the bodies from the scene of the helicopter crash
Randy Waldman, a helicopter flight instructor who teaches at the nearby Van Nuys airport, said a disoriented pilot might have only moments to avoid a fatal dive.
'If you're flying visually, if you get caught in a situation where you can't see out the windshield, the life expectancy of the pilot and the aircraft is maybe 10, 15 seconds, and it happens all the time, and it's really a shame,' Waldman said.
Radar indicated the helicopter reached a height of 2,300 feet before descending, and the wreckage was found at 1,085 feet
Some experts raised questions of whether the helicopter should have even been flying. The weather was so foggy that the Los Angeles Police Department and the county sheriff's department had grounded their own choppers.
Audio reveals Zobayan, requested to fly under special visual flight rules (SVFR). Under an SVFR clearance, pilots are allowed to fly in weather conditions worse than those allowed for visual flight rules (VFR).
Kobe Bryant, 41, and his daughter, Gianna, 13, were killed when helicopter crashed on a hillside on Sunday. They are pictured with the rest of their family; Kobe leaves behind wife Vanessa, daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, three, seven-month-old Capri
Special VFR clearances are only issued when cloud ceilings are below 1,000 feet above ground level. Flying that low to the ground can be very disorienting and risky, and it's possible that the pilot became disoriented due to the visibility conditions when the helicopter appeared to veer off its path above US Route 101.
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This article first appeared on Daily Mail.
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