Busy Sunday
That fateful Sunday was by no means a lazy one for Kobe. By 7:00 a.m. he’d already attended church before making the trip from his Newport Coast home to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. The morning sunrise was slowly fading beneath the gray of a coming storm, though the basketball legend had bigger things on his mind than the weather.
Big game
Just a few hours away, the Orange County basketball team that Kobe coached and Gianna played for were set to begin their first-ever tournament. The girls were eager to hit the court, though getting to the game wouldn’t be as simple as driving around the block.
Gridlock
The Mamba Sports Academy gym, which Kobe co-owned, was some 80 miles away in Thousand Oaks, meaning it’d take most of the team a good two-plus hours to get there. Naturally, crawling through bumper-to-bumper traffic wasn’t exactly Kobe’s idea of a proper warmup before a big game.
To the skies
That’s why Kobe offered to take Gianna, several of her teammates, and their parents to the tournament aboard his private “Mamba Chopper.” In his later years, the NBA legend had flown by helicopter to dozens of games. Why would this trip be any different?
Something’s off
Just the day before, the copter had made the very same journey — and without issue. But when the group arrived at the airport at around 9:00 a.m., they may have been surprised to find passengers lingering in the terminal.
Unfavorable conditions
Evidently, the poor weather conditions had caused a number of other pilots to ground their flights for the day. Even the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had forced its helicopters to land. Kobe, fearing Gianna and the others would miss their noon tipoff, quickly sought out his pilot Ara Zobayan for answers.
Takeoff
But Ara explained that both he and the airport’s flight coordinator had given the go-ahead for the day’s flight. And so, without a moment to spare, Kobe, Gianna, and their guests — three of Gianna’s teammates and their parents — took off aboard the Mamba Copter at 9:06 a.m. It was the last time anyone would see them alive again.
Alternate Route
The flight began without a hitch, though the limited visibility forced Ara to stay low below the clouds as he flew along I-5 instead of banking high over the Hollywood Hills as he’d done the day prior. Then, as the chopper approached Glendale, controllers from Hollywood Burbank Airport put it in a holding pattern for 11 minutes before allowing it to continue on its path.
Into the clouds
At around 9:40 a.m., Ara radioed to a nearby control tower for assistance navigating the upcoming hilly terrain. The controller responded, however, that he was flying too low to be detected by radar. Then, five minutes later, the pilot relayed that he was climbing to avoid the cloud cover. It was the last communication he made.
Falling from the sky
Moments later, outside a nearby church, Scott Daehlin heard a buzzing overheard — far too close for the craft to be heading anywhere but down. The sound grew louder, heading east, before a sudden, sickening thud replaced it. Then it was silent.
No survivors
As emergency crews rushed to the scene, they were met with a brutal sight. And the wrecked helicopter still burned wildly as rescuers searched for survivors. Yet one look at the scattered debris and raging flames made it horribly clear: all those aboard were gone.
Can’t be real
Word of the crash spread like wildfire, with TMZ being the first to break the news to the world. Disbelieving fans scrolled their newsfeeds relentlessly; loved ones reached out to the victims in frantic texts, only to never receive a reply. At the Mamba Academy, parents and players alike joined hands and dropped to their knees to pray. There had to be some mistake.
Heartbreaking truth
But once the dust settled, the devastating truth was confirmed: Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, and seven others had perished in the crash. Tributes poured out from all corners of the globe. Even in the midst of the grief, though, there was one question on everyone’s mind: what had happened?
Investigations begin
According to initial investigations conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the trouble had begun as Ara attempted to climb through the cloud cover shortly before losing contact. The helicopter had risen 1,000 feet in just 36 seconds. Then, when it had reached the 2,300-foot threshold, it had made what The New York Times would later call “a broad partial U-turn to the left [before starting] a steep descent.”
Recipe for disaster
Falling at a rate of 4,000 feet per minute, the helicopter was only 20 to 30 feet shy of clearing the hill ahead. However, the limited visibility had given Ara little chance to correct course before the fatal crash. So, what had caused the chopper to descend so suddenly and uncontrollably?
Ruling it out
While some kind of mechanical malfunction seemed a likely culprit, the Mamba Copter had a strong safety record and had carried Kobe dozens of times before — including after his final Lakers game in 2016. With this theory ruled out, investigators turned to the next potential cause: the pilot.
“[When] you’re in clouds, sometimes physiologically, your brain, based on your inner ear… you kind of get confused,” Anthony Brickhouse, a former NTSB investigator, told the New York Post. Because of this phenomenon, Ara could’ve believed that his aircraft was climbing when it really wasn’t, leading him to become disoriented.
Conclusions made
Learning the news
The wider world will probably never know how exactly Vanessa learned of the crash. But on January 30, 2020, she released a saddening statement on Instagram. It began, “My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who’ve shown support and love during this horrific time. Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them.”
There aren’t words
Saddeningly, the superstar’s wife added, “There aren’t enough words to describe our pain right now. I take comfort in knowing that Kobe and Gigi both knew that they were so deeply loved. We were so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I wish they were here with us forever. They were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon.”
Carrying on their legacies
Since that tragic day, Vanessa Bryant has remained steadfast in holding those responsible for Kobe and Gianna’s deaths at fault while also seeking to highlight both of their incredible lives. Most mothers would do the same if it meant keeping the memory of a lost child alive, though when it came to Kobe, who lived most of his life in the limelight, Vanessa wanted people to know something else.
Meeting on set
The pair had first met on the set of a music video when Vanessa was 17 and Kobe 20. What’s more, young Vanessa, who had lived a sheltered and strict life, fell head over heels. In 2005 Vanessa’s old classmate Monica Squadrilli told the Los Angeles Times, “She’d bring pictures of Kobe to school, and we’d all be like ‘Omigod!’ Even then, a lot of people didn’t believe her. But then he gave her that massive engagement ring, and that shut everyone up.”
The basketball star went on, “I would finish a take and go to my trailer but I would wonder where she was the entire time. Then I would come out of the trailer and just wanted to talk to her some more, in between takes and stuff like that. She was just beautiful. We literally did everything together.” And the two bonded over something slightly unusual.
Tying the knot
So in 2001, less than two years since they’d first met, Vanessa and Kobe got married at the St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in California. Yet it was a very small ceremony and Kobe’s family were not present. You see, the basketball player’s romance with Vanessa had created a large rift in the Bryant family.
Painful rift
Kobe told the Orlando Sentinel, “Sure, I miss my father. Who wouldn’t miss his father? It’s not about basketball. It’s about having somebody to go to a ballgame with. It’s about having somebody to hang out with. That’s what I miss.” But Joe Bryant gave only vague reasons for the family rift.
No prenup
Furthermore, Vanessa and Kobe didn’t have a prenuptial agreement, something which caused concern among the young woman’s own family. For instance, her stepfather Stephen Laine told the Los Angeles Times in 2005, “We’d been going back and forth for months over a prenuptial agreement. She just came home one day and said something to the effect that Kobe didn’t want a prenup – that he loved her too much.”
Filing for divorce
So things seemed to be going well for basketball’s most famous couple. But then Vanessa suddenly filed for divorce in 2011, ten years after the couple had first married. At the time Natalia was eight years old, and Gianna was just five. And Vanessa’s reason for filing was given as “irreconcilable differences”, according to ABC News.
Massive settlement
Of course, much was made over the fact that the couple didn’t have a prenup. If the divorce really did go ahead, the media claimed, Vanessa would be entitled to half of all the money Kobe had made with the Lakers. So with that, it appeared the fairytale romance was well and truly over.
Back on
Yes, because in 2013 it emerged that Kobe and Vanessa would not be getting divorced after all. Apparently, they had been seen together regularly holding hands and having dates, and the whole separation had been called off. For fans of the couple, that was needless to say extremely good news.
Full-time dad
What’s more, two big milestones happened for the couple in 2016: first their third daughter, Bianka, was born. Then Kobe retired from professional basketball and settled into life as a devoted father. In fact, he did his first post-retirement interview with Ellen Degeneres, and told her his daughters thought his skills were “pretty awesome.”
Loving his girls
Furthermore, when asked about his family, Kobe declared, “They’re great – Vanessa’s good, Natalia, Gianna, and Bianka are good. Natalia’s 14, Gianna will be 11 in seven days, and Bianka’s four months… it’s crazy! Three girls!” And when he was questioned as to whether he’d ever want a boy, he told Extra , “I hear boys are just walking tornadoes. We’ll see. I think Vanessa wants a boy more than I do.”
Stopping at four
Also, Kobe told Ellen that he wouldn’t mind having a fifth daughter or son eventually. He said, “I would go for a solid starting five. You just have your own internal basketball team. I would say yeah, but Vanessa right now would look at me as if I was crazy. She’s like, ‘No, we’re done. That’s it.’”
Strong individuals
Now, Kobe was always thrilled to be a father of young women. And in September 2019 he told Jimmy Kimmel, “I love having girls… I always say if you look at the eldest daughter, she’s always like the calm, responsible, thoughtful one, and then the second sister is like a tornado… That’s certainly like our house, and then we have two other ones.”
Celebrity support
Actually, singer Jessica Simpson, who lived close to where the helicopter went down, offered her condolences to Vanessa. She wrote on an Instagram post, “Vanessa, you are the woman and wife that championed your husband to greatness. My prayers are constant for everyone affected by this impactful loss.”
Vanessa’s challenge
Poignantly, critic Rebecca Shuri seemed to sum up what a lot of people thought when she tweeted, “I can’t stop thinking about Vanessa Bryant, who was with Kobe longer than she was without him in her life, who has an infant child and two other young daughters, and who will have to bear this memory anew when each remaining daughter tries to reconcile this tragedy.” However, Vanessa did further share her thoughts on the tragedy soon after.
She went on, “Why should I be able to wake up another day when my baby girl isn’t being able to have that opportunity?! I’m so mad. She had so much life to live. Then I realize I need to be strong and be here for my three daughters. Mad I’m not with Kobe and Gigi but thankful I’m here with Natalia, Bianka and Capri.”
Looking for peace
Seeing Vanessa deal with the loss of both her husband and daughter has touched a lot of hearts. Indeed, she has barely known a life without Kobe since the pair met for the first time at such a young age. And at the moment, it seems a lot of people are just hoping that she will find peace and happiness again.
Source: Her Moments
