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NTSB: Pilot of Kobe Bryant's Helicopter Climbed to Avoid Cloud Layer

VOA News

   The pilot of the helicopter that crashed and killed basketball
   superstar Kobe Bryant apparently climbed to avoid a cloud layer just
   before slamming into a hillside, federal investigators say.

   Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said
   Monday the copter was about 700 meters off the ground before it plunged
   more than 300 meters into the hills north of Los Angeles.

   Air traffic say the pilot's message that he had to climb to avoid the
   clouds was the last thing they heard from the copter.

   Homendy says the debris field is "extensive."

   "A piece of the tail is down the hill, the fuselage is on the other
   side of that hill and the main rotor is about 91 meters beyond that,"
   she said, adding that everything is looked at during the investigation
   -- the pilot, the aircraft, and the environment.

   Federal rules do not require helicopters to carry black boxes.

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