The tragedy that took place nearly two weeks ago claiming the lives of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and seven others was reportedly just seconds from being able to be avoided.
An investigation revealed that pilot Ara Zobayan was a mere 100 feet away from clear skies, but his fateful decision to make a left turn rather than continue to climb in altitude caused the helicopter to crash into the terrain at 180 miles per hour.
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“If you exit the bottom of the clouds at 4,000 feet per minute at that high speed, you’ve certainly lost control of the aircraft,” air safety consultant Kipp Lau said. “Once you break out of the clouds it’s clear. Everything lines up with the body.”
The crash led to a worldwide outpouring of grief for the Bryant family, as well as the seven others who perished in the crash. Everyone on board was on their way to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
“When he went into the clouds, he had a full on emergency,” pilot Mike Sagely said, noting that turning during the pop-up maneuver is “catastrophic . . . 80 to 90 percent of the time.”
A public memorial is set for February 24 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
– – Quotes courtesy of Sara Dorn of the New York Post Link – –
