NTSB: Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter Missed Clearing Mountain by 20-30 Feet
Officials said the “high energy impact crash" site was 1,085 feet up.
Ethan Miller/Getty
The National Transportation Safety Board said the helicopter Kobe Bryant was flying in the day he died crashed just 20 to 30 feet from the top of the mountain it crashed on. In a Tuesday press conference, officials described the area around the “high energy impact crash” site as a “ravine with undulated terrain.” According to NTSB's Jennifer Homendy, the main impact of the crash was 1,085 feet up and the the height of the mountain the helicopter crashed on was 20 to 30 feet away. However, Homendy also said there were other hills close by as the pilot was trying to “climb out of the cloud layer at the time” of the crash. The time from the helicopter's descent to impact was “about a minute,” she said.
The agency said their preliminary report would be completed in 10 days. The NTSB also did a family briefing earlier Tuesday. Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others were killed in the Jan. 26 crash.
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