Kobe Bryant death: Text messages before crash revealed, construct day leading to disaster

Months after NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others lost their lives in a tragic helicopter crash, text messages that followed the incident have been revealed. Around 45 minutes before the crash, the broker who arranged Bryant's flight, sent a text saying "Wheels up" before after the Sikorsky S-76B took off from the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. The flight left at 9:06 AM ET and crashed at around 9:45 AM ET in Calabasas, California. 

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Kobe Bryant death: Text messages sent before Kobe Bryant helicopter crash revealed

Ara Zobayan, who was Bryant's favourite pilot, was flying Bryant, Gianna and six others to a game at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. At 9:33 AM, a few minutes before the crash, one of Bryant's drivers at the Camarillo Airport (where they were supposed to land), sent a text which read "Just started raining lightly here". The same group had flown to the same destination a day before the crash and Zobayan had taken the route around 10 times in 2019. For every flight, the broker, charter company and drivers communicated via text. 

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At 9:48 AM ET, another broker asked if the helicopter landed three minutes after it was scheduled to do so. After 13 minutes of no response from the pilot, the broker asked Zobayan if he was okay at 10:02 AM. The text messages were among many details released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which mapped the events which led to the crash. 

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Last month, the group chat which was created before every flight Bryant took was revealed. The messages were between Zobayan and Patti Taylor from OC Helicopters, who worked as the flight coordinator, managing Bryant's ground and flight transportation. The text messages revealed the two discussing the weather a day before, but the concerns were eventually dismissed.

Zobayan had also confirmed that he would check in about the weather a day later. As per CNN, Zobayan later stated that it would not be the 'best day' to fly, but it was not as bad as the day before the crash. On the day of the crash, Zobayan confirmed that they would be flying as the weather looked okay. An hour before the flight, the Taylor asked Zobayan about the weather, who replied saying that it should be 'OK', which Taylor had agreed to. 

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Reports also revealed the Zobayan must have grown 'disoriented' before the crash. Right before the crash, Zobayan informed the radar controllers that they were starting to claim above the cloud layers. However, the helicopter was descending before the data ended. Zobayan did not respond after being asked for updates repeatedly. 

As per the documents, the 'calculated apparent angles' at the time of the crash indicate that the pilot could have 'misperceived both pitch and roll angles' before the crash due to the heavy fog. Vanessa Bryant sued the helicopter company in a wrongful death lawsuit, which stated that they were responsible for Bryant and Gigi's death. 

(Image source: AP)