The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others was trying to ascend above a fog-shrouded hill when it slammed into the ravine and dropped 2,000 feet per minute to the ground below, federal investigators said Tuesday.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday, the Sikorsky S-76 chopper with nine people aboard climbed to about 2,300 feet seemingly in an attempt to clear the thick cloud layer. It hit part of a ravine in the Calabasas and fell, crashing in an area on the hillside 1,085 feet above sea level, National Transportation Safety Board member Jennifer Homendy said.

The helicopter plunged into a steep descent with a rate of "over 2,000 feet per minute," making it a "high-energy impact crash."

"This is a pretty steep descent at high speed," Homendy said. "It wouldn't be a normal landing speed."



The time from descent to impact was about a minute, she added.

The helicopter was navigating a canyon with multiple hills and peaks, NTSB investigator Bill English noted, describing the area as a "ravine with undulating terrain."

"The main impact was about 20 to 30 feet from that small hill, but there were other higher hills surrounding it…it’s in a canyon with small hills within it," he said.



The helicopter was in one piece when it hit the mountainside, Homendy said, adding that the pilot "was trying to climb out of the cloud layer at the time." On Monday, she said the pilot, Ara Zobayan, who died in the crash, was climbing to avoid a cloud layer.

Zobayan had received special visual flight rules to fly that morning, despite the dense fog and tough visibility conditions. Getting this special clearance happens often, Homendy said.

Homendy on Tuesday also noted that her agency had repeatedly made safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration after two serious helicopter crashes, one of which killed 10 people in Texas in 2004.