Helo Crash Kills Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant, Eight Others | Aviation International News

Helo Crash Kills Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant, Eight Others

Helicopter crashes into foggy California hillside, killing basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and eight others.

By Mark Huber • Contributor

January 27, 2020

Retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, and his daughter Gianna, 13, were two of nine aboard a 1991 Sikorsky S-76B—registered as N72EX—who died Sunday at 9:47 a.m. local time when the helicopter went down just south of the 101 freeway in Calabasas, California. According to the Los Angeles County sheriff, there were eight passengers and one pilot on board.

The helicopter lifted off from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, at 9:06 a.m. en route to Bryant’s basketball academy in Thousand Oaks, California when it slammed into a hillside in conditions described as low ceilings and heavy fog. The helicopter, which was registered to Island Express Holding, was believed to be flying with one pilot aboard.

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