Kobe’s chopper flew in foggy weather that forced LAPD to ground fleet

The helicopter that crashed while carrying basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and several others flew despite a fog so bad that city police grounded their choppers on Sunday.

Bryant's Sikorsky S-76 chopper went down in low clouds and foggy weather shortly before 10 a.m. (1800 GMT) in hilly terrain just outside Calabasas, California, about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of central Los Angeles, sparking a brush fire, officials said.

An investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board could take months.

Weather was likely to figure prominently in the crash investigation.

Fog in the area was so bad that the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its helicopter fleet on Sunday morning, the Los Angeles Times and CNN reported.

Bryant was known since his playing days to travel frequently by helicopter to avoid the Los Angeles area's notorious traffic.

The fire and debris field from the crash spread over a quarter-acre of steep terrain in the grass-covered foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, county Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.

Others on board besides the pilot were a teammate from Bryant's daughter's basketball squad and a parent of the teammate, NBC News reported.

Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli was also one of the victims, the Orange County Register said, citing assistant coach Ron La Ruffa. —Reuters