Minute-by-minute breakdown of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death 5 years after helicopter crash from pilot error to sick photos
Minute-by-minute breakdown of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death 5 years after helicopter crash from pilot error to sick photos
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AVOIDING two-hour car journeys through LA's notorious traffic prompted Kobe Bryant to often charter private helicopters. But what should have been a routine half-hour flight five years ago ended in disaster. On a gloomy January day in 2020, the basketball legend, his 13-year-old daughter and six others boarded a chopper in Orange County, California, as their pilot mulled weather conditions.
![[Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2020-show-pilot-flew-bryant-583230760_7aebe9.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But less than 40 minutes later, all nine were killed when their helicopter crashed into a hillside near Calabasas. Five years of torment have followed for their heartbroken families, who have had to contend with lawsuits as well as their grief. Sick emergency workers fuelled their anguish by cruelly sharing graphic photos of victims.
![[Firefighters at the site of a helicopter crash.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2020-pilot-helicopter-crashed-thick-589971465.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
And it took more than a year for investigators to issue a lengthy report on what likely caused the tragedy. This is the minute-by-minute breakdown of the crash that left Kobe and his daughter Gianna dead - and the world reeling. 9.06am PT - Sunday, January 26, 2020.
![[Helicopter pilot Ara Zobayan standing in front of a helicopter.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/undated-photo-provided-group-3-557903567.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter takes off from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. Kobe is scheduled to coach his daughter Gianna's team in a basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks at midday,. Gianna, 13, is on board the doomed craft, as well as baseball coach John Altobelli, wife Keri, daughter Alyssa, Sarah Chester and daughter Payton and basketball coach Christina Mauser.
![[Illustration of helicopter flight path ending in crash near Calabasas.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SC_KOBE-CRASH-FLIGHTPATH-210125_GRAPHIC.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
