Details are beginning to emerge the day after the tragic helicopter crash that killed former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his daughter.
First, TMZ reported that there could be a degree of pilot error; or at least posted audio that appeared to audibly show a pilot that needed assistance due to heavy fog and low visibility.
TMZ just updated their reporting with tons of details about Kobe’s crash. Sounds like they were doomed from the second they made the ill-fated decision to take off in heavy fog. Pilot got disoriented and they crashed into a mountain. Awful. https://t.co/DtfZOnSpNW
— Mark Graham (@unclegrambo) January 27, 2020
On Monday, ESPN has more details from a ‘source’ that suggest the crash was ill-fated from the start.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told ESPN that the pilot had, only moments before, contacted air traffic controllers to say that he had begun a climb to “go above the layer” of clouds present.
[…]
Audio reviewed by ESPN indicates that, a few minutes before the crash, an air traffic controller told Zobayan that he was “still too low level for flight following,” meaning the aircraft was below the level at which it could be picked up by radar due to the area’s hilly terrain. That audio came from recordings posted on LiveATC.net, which has partial audio of the communication between the pilot and air traffic controllers.
Obviously, a full report should make it’s way to light. It’s just been 24 hours, which is hard to believe. Still it seems like a bad dream, almost surreal.
