The helicopter that crashed killing NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others onboard, showed no evidence of “catastrophic internal” engine failure, federal investigators said Friday.
The Sikorsky S-76B chopper crashed Jan. 26 amid foggy conditions in the hills overlooking Calabasas, Calif., and “was destroyed by impact forces and fire,” according to a new report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report states that a witness heard the sound of the helicopter and then heard it getting louder as he then saw the chopper emerge from the clouds.
“He judged it to be moving fast, travelling on a forward and descending trajectory,” the report says. “It started to roll to the left such that he caught a glimpse of its belly. He observed it for 1 or 2 seconds, before it impacted terrain about 50 feet below his position.”
The NTSB is continuing to investigate the crash and said it will take at least a year to release a final report with findings about what exactly caused it.
Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also killed in the crash.ZUMAPRESS.comInvestigators previously revealed that the chopper lacked a terrain awareness system – which was not mandatory – that could have warned the pilot he was too close to the ground.
The NTSB said in its preliminary report that all “significant components” of the helicopter were located within the wreckage area, and that “a number of personal devices” were recovered from the site “and will examined for any relevant data.”
All inspections were up to date on the chopper, the agency said.
