Mere seconds before crashing, the pilot of the VFR helicopter flight that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and seven other passengers the morning of January 26 had requested a climb to 4,000 feet through instrument meteorological conditions. That is among the information released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its accident investigation update. At the time pilot Ara Zobayan requested the climb from SoCal approach, the 1991 Sikorsky S-76B, N72EX, had left a reported altitude of 1,500 feet msl and was already climbing to 2,300 msl, about 1,500 agl, while entering a left turn to the south and east, away from its previous route westbound over Highway 101. Eight seconds after beginning the turn the aircraft began descending, reaching a descent rate of over 4,000 fpm and a groundspeed of 160 knots. The last ADS-B target indicated an altitude of 1,200 feet msl 400 feet southwest of the accident location.
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