The only blessing the helicopter that crashed carrying former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his daughter, along with seven other passengers, is that it was likely their deaths were instant.
The helicopter carrying Bryant apparently slammed into a hillside and burst into flames in Calabasas near Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street in foggy conditions. I am very familiar with the area as I used to work nearby on Agoura Road, west of Las Virgenes Road.
The last time I was in the area was three years ago as I regularly used the RV dump station at the nearby Malibu Creek State Park campground.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
Kobe Bryant, 41, the legendary basketball star who spent 20 years with the Lakers, was killed Sunday morning when the helicopter he was traveling in crashed amid foggy conditions and burst into flames in the hills above Calabasas, sources told the Los Angeles Times.
His daughter Gianna, 13, was also on board, NBA authorities confirmed.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said nine people were on the copter — a pilot and eight passengers. He would not confirm who had died until all the next of kin have been notified, he said. The L.A. County coroner’s office said Sunday night that the recovery effort is expected to take several days because of the condition of the crash site and its remote location. Officials have shut down roads leading to the site because of a throng of visitors trying to get there.
The fog was severe enough Sunday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department’s Air Support Division grounded its helicopters and didn’t fly until later in the afternoon, department spokesman Josh Rubenstein said.
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| Above, looking north from Malibu Creek State Park, the crash site would be about 3 miles up Las Virgenes Road (right). Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Why Bryant's helicopter was allowed to fly in such foggy conditions is something the FAA and NTSB will be looking at. When I worked in Malibu a few years ago, the fog from the ocean got very thick.
Basketball is not one of my main sports interests, but I did follow the 2009 Championship series as co-workers were closely following the games on portable television sets and I joined them in watching. The importance and impact of Bryant's role with the Lakers is undeniable.
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