Chilling video footage has emerged showing Kobe Bryant’s helicopter circling the skies of Glendale, California “aggressively” minutes before it crashed, killing the 41 year-old NBA legend and eight others.
The video was shared to Twitter by a user with the handle @theironlydreams, who spotted the helicopter flying above their house and immediately started filming.
“I try and video /photograph all the weird stuff happening above my house in Glendale, CA,” the user wrote. “Unfortunately this morning I didn’t realize I was filming the helicopter Kobe Bryant, his daughter and others were in 31 minutes before they crashed.”
I try and video /photograph all the weird stuff happening above my house in Glendale,CA. Unfortunately this morning I didn’t realize I was filming the helicopter Kobe Bryant, his daughter and others were in 31 minutes before they crashed . RIP pic.twitter.com/8zdiplvEbv
— THEIR ONLY DREAMS (@theironlydreams) January 27, 2020
The Twitter user later added that the “pilot was performing a very aggressive circling maneuver, that’s why I went outside to Film because it was so loud. I observed 1 or 2 circles before filming and he was even lower and closer to my house, engine maxed.”
This comes after veteran pilot Robert Ditchey told USA Today that the helicopter crash, which also killed Bryant’s 13 year-old daughter Gianna, “was totally avoidable.”
“And on the part of some people I can go as far as to say irresponsible,” Ditchey said. “Here’s one of the most important people in the world who comes to a tragic end like this and you say, ‘Why? What the hell happened?’”
Excellent capture, I've looked for other footage or pics of it over Glendale and your video is all I've found. I started a thread here while figuring out what the Glendale hold was about: https://t.co/Q5mn3UlS8j
— Scott Lowe (@tropicostation) January 27, 2020
The weather was so foggy in Southern California on the morning of the crash that the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded all of their helicopters due to safety concerns, according to Daily Mail. Despite this, Bryant’s helicopter took off from Santa Ana in Orange County just after 9am to take him to a basketball game that his daughter was set to play in.
Ditchey wondered why anyone would get on a helicopter in these kind of “very scary conditions.”
“The weather is not good enough for the police to fly,” Ditchey said. “Why should Kobe do it?”
The experienced pilot went on to explain that the helicopter likely crashed because of the decreased visibility that stemmed from the fog in Glendale.
“He’s down only 100 feet or so above the ground,” he continued. “In that area of the San Fernando Valley you have mountains on either side of you … and the clouds have obscured them, and you don’t have that much room to maneuver.”
Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that this tragedy could have been prevented had more precautions been taken. We can only hope that this devastating tragedy causes people to think twice before boarding helicopters in questionable weather conditions going forward.
This piece was originally featured on LifeZette and is being used with permission.
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