2020 Calabasas helicopter crash

On January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter crashed into a hillside in the city of Calabasas, California around 25 mi northwest of downtown Los Angeles, while en route from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport. All nine people on board were killed: former professional basketball player Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna; baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their 14-year-old daughter Alyssa; Sarah Chester and her 13-year-old daughter Payton; basketball coach Christina Mauser and the pilot Ara Zobayan.

The incident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which concluded that it was caused by continued VFR into IMC: the helicopter entered low cloud cover, which caused the pilot to lose his sense of orientation and thus lose control of the helicopter.

Accident

On Sunday, January 26, 2020 at about 9:06 a.m PST (17:06 UTC), eight passengers and one pilot departed from John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California in a 1991 Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, registration N72EX. They were heading to a basketball game at Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy in Newbury Park, where he was scheduled to coach his daughter's team. Flight history records showed the helicopter had flown same journey the day before without incident to Camarillo Airport (CMA), a major general aviation airport about 20 minutes by car from Mamba Sports Academy. The previous day's flight had taken only 30 minutes, in contrast, driving from Bryant's home in Newport Beach to the academy would normally take at least 2 hours.

Flight

Because visual flight rules prohibit a pilot from flying into or near clouds, the helicopter remained at an altitude of 700 or 800 ft above mean sea level (MSL) while flying northwest from SNA. On most of its previous flights to Camarillo, the helicopter had turned west at downtown Los Angeles and flown over the Santa Monica Mountains until it picked up the Ventura Freeway (US 101). On January 26, that was not an option for VFR flights because of a deep marine layer which had pushed fog from the Pacific Ocean into the Santa Monica Mountains. Instead, the helicopter continued northwest, passed over Boyle Heights near Dodger Stadiumand began following the route of the Golden State Freeway (I-5); as the flight approached Glendale, pilot Zobayan requested permission from the Hollywood Burbank Airport air traffic controllers to transition to following the Ventura Freeway (US 101). Burbank controllers advised him that weather conditions around the airport dictated IFR and held the helicopter circling in a holding pattern for 11 minutes starting at 9:21 a.m. PST (UTC−08:00) before granting it permission to proceed into the controlled airspace around Burbank Airport. The hold allowed two inbound flights to land; while holding, Burbank informed Zobayan the cloud top extended to an altitude of 2400 ft. Burbank called Van Nuys, which was also operating under IFR, and Van Nuys advised Burbank to take Zobayan north of Van Nuys.

Permission to proceed was granted at 9:32 a.m. (17:32 UTC) under special VFR, requiring the pilot to stay under 2500 ft altitude. The helicopter climbed to an altitude of 1400 ft MSL, which Zobayan confirmed with Van Nuys at 9:35 a.m. (17:35 UTC). After proceeding through Burbank controlled airspace, the flight turned west, following the Ronald Reagan Freeway (SR 118) as it passed into the Van Nuys Airport controlled airspace; the Van Nuys controllers shortly afterward approved a turn southwest towards the Ventura Freeway (US 101) at 9:39 a.m. (17:39 UTC). Zobayan then confirmed he was still in VFR flight conditions at 1500 ft and acknowledged the handoff to Southern California air traffic control (SCT).

SCT made its first contact with Zobayan at 9:40 a.m. (17:40 UTC), confirming the helicopter's altitude and continued operation under VFR conditions. SCT informed Zobayan that at the aircraft's current altitude and position, they would lose communication and radar contact shortly, advising him to "squawk VFR" (transmit transponder code 1200) until he could contact Camarillo on the radio. By 9:42 a.m. (17:42 UTC), the helicopter had started following the Ventura Freeway west, entering more hilly terrain at the western edge of the San Fernando Valley. The SCT controller was relieved by a different controller at 9:43 a.m. (17:43 UTC). At 9:44:34 a.m. (17:44:34 UTC), Zobayan advised SCT that N72EX would be climbing above the cloud cover; the relieving SCT controller asked Zobayan to identify and asked if he was requesting flight following, a tracking service that would have provided the VFR flight with continuous verbal updates on air traffic. Zobayan confirmed that he was and in response to a question about his intentions, advised air traffic control at 9:45:15 a.m. (17:45:15 UTC) that he would level out at 4000 ft; this was the last transmission made by Zobayan.

As it approached higher ground, the helicopter began to climb, gaining about 1000 ft of altitude in 36 seconds. According to transponder data, the helicopter first entered a climbing turn to the left, taking a southern heading and peaking at an altitude of 2300 ft MSL (1500 ft AGL). Eight seconds later, at about 9:45:18 a.m. (17:45 UTC), the helicopter, continuing its left turn to the southeast, started to descend rapidly. It reached a descent rate of more than 4000 ft/min and a ground speed of 160 kn before it struck a hillside at an elevation of approximately 1085 ft; the aircraft's altitude at the last recorded ADS-B signal (9:45:36 a.m.) was 1295 ft.