By Missy Crane | February 8, 2020
The world is still grieving the loss of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and all each and every soul lost when his helicopter went down in a thick sheet of fog.
Officials have determined that the cause of the crash was “weather-related.” As a matter of fact, local police in the area had grounded all of their choppers on that day, due to the dense fog, but Kobe’s helicopter, en route to basketball practice for his daughter Gigi, took a gamble and sadly went down.
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Now, we’re learning an even more sad and tragic truth about that fateful flight.
Investigators have said that Kobe’s doomed chopper was just 12-short-seconds from clear skies when it crashed into the side of a hill in Calabasas, California.
12-seconds.
That’s it.
The helicopter carrying Kobe and Gianna Bryant was just 12 seconds from clearing thick fog when it crashed into the Calabasas hillside, according to federal investigators.
Pilot Ara Zobayan was 100 feet away from exiting heavy cloud cover when, instead of continuing to increase altitude, he made a left turn and crashed into the terrain at 180 mph, according to a preliminary report released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“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.”
Another aviation expert said Zobayan was likely attempting a maneuver to quickly clear clouds by moving the aircraft up and forward, but made a fatal error with the left turn. [New York Post [2]]
Vanessa Bryant, wife of Kobe and mother to Gigi posted a tribute to her daughter. Young Gigi’s high school retired her basketball jersey.
You can watch the video below:
Gianna Bryant was “number 2,” a nod to her Dad who was number “24.”
It’s just so heartwrenching to think that just 12 seconds later and everything could have turned out so differently.
Life is so very fragile. Be thankful for every second that you have.
This piece originally appeared on WayneDupree.com [3] and is used by permission.
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