this morning new video what appears to
be Kobe Bryant's helicopter taken just
30 minutes before it crashed by a
homeowner living under its verified
flight path now as investigators search
for clues in the wreckage off the steep
hillside they're also looking at the
weather as a factor the NTSB appealing
to the public for help we're looking for
photos of the weather in the area of the
crash the pilot identified as Aras
abuyin was an experienced aviator and
flight instructor who colleagues say put
safety first but Sunday morning thick
fog and low clouds had grounded LAPD and
Sheriff's choppers so why did sabayon
choose to fly my concern is just a
decision-making process and if we
weren't flying in that weather was any
bails flying I witness Scott de lijn
says just moments before the crash he
heard the chopper hovering above about
20 seconds later just shouldn't have
felt heard Plexiglas breaking up to have
had this happen right here in front of
you what was that like
I just wish it didn't have to happen
Kobe Bryant regularly leased the luxury
chopper a Sikorsky it took off from
Orange County Airport at 9:08 am headed
to Bryant's Training Academy in Thousand
Oaks air traffic control told the pilot
to follow highways to the north a normal
procedure but with the clouds and fog
the Bayan requested special visual
flight rules for low ceilings to echo
echo with you for the special VFR
transition we are at 1400 minutes later
over Calabasas the chopper climbed then
descended quickly before dropping off
radar with no Mayday to echo x-ray
you're still too low level well for off
by following at this time to echo x-ray
SoCal the Sikorsky has one of the best
safety records of any helicopter chopper
pilot Curt Dietz who had also flown for
Kobe Bryant says he had never felt
pressured by the basketball star to fly
in any unsafe conditions
did he ever insist on trying to get
through weather it didn't ever insist
now nothing like that no actual pilot
flying is in final authority so it's up
to him yeah
Tom there's so many questions here but
it was so striking that the NTSB
investigators said they wanted the
public's help they want pictures of the
weather in the area is that unusual the
NTSB really in recent years has been
coming out and asking for the public's
help because everybody has a cell phone
these days right so people have
photographs they have video and like you
saw in that piece of the chopper just a
few minutes earlier they want to collect
all of that data of the chopper flying
but also of the weather and by the way
the Sheriff's Department has had a
problem with just curious onlookers
trying to climb up that hill to get to
the wreckage scene so the Sheriff's
Department now has deployed officers on
horseback and ATVs they've got a
perimeter around this entire hill
Foothill Mountain however you want to
describe it to keep people away so
Thomas as I understand it no black box
no cockpit voice recorder other than
these these pictures in the video that
they're looking for from folks who might
have been in the area how else are
officials planning on getting data from
the flight yeah and by the way that was
a surprise announcement when they said
yesterday in fact there was no cockpit
voice recorder we've been led to believe
that there probably was so they will now
try to get as much data as they can off
of the avionics inside the helicopter
this is an advanced helicopter there
should be good data off of that but in
addition the iPad that the pilot was
using to file his flight plan that
should also hopefully glean some data
and anything at all that they can get
from air traffic control from the radar
tapes all of that will be part of this
investigation time I mean you imagine
this high-speed crashing to the side of
the mountain do they think they're going
to be able to retrieve that data will it
be in a form that they can get the
information
well that certainly is the hope I mean
as you know right now these micro
processors are pretty small they usually
can withstand a crash but there was also
a significant fire so absolutely all of
that is going to be of concern
you