CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 26: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Alternate crop.) Wreckage of the crashed helicopter that was carrying former NBA star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna smolders on the ground on January 26, 2020 in Calabasas, California. According to reports, five people including Bryant and his daughter have been confirmed killed in the crash. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
My dad retired from TWA in 2001. He still loves flying to this day, and keeps on eye on any aircraft incidents. You can imagine like everyone he was interested in Kobe’s helicopter flying conditions. He was shocked to see how foggy it was, and couldn’t imagine the pilot would’ve flown in those conditions unless he was “asked too.”
My dad also was surprised the pilot chose to fly “special visual flight rules” clearance to fly by sight in worse than normal visibility in the controlled airspace. Most pilots would not choose to do that he told me, opting to wait out the weather instead.
We’ll get answers from the NTSB at some point, and in the meantime, we’ll just guess what the last moments of the flight might have been.