At 9:06 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter departed from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, with nine people aboard: Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, six family friends, and the pilot.[474][475][476][477] The helicopter was registered to the Fillmore-based Island Express Holding Corp., according to the California Secretary of State business database.[478] The group was traveling to Camarillo Airport in Ventura County for a basketball game at Bryant's Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks.[479]
Due to light rain and fog that morning, the LAPD helicopters[477] and most other air traffic were grounded.[480] The flight tracker showed that the helicopter circled above the L.A. Zoo due to heavy air traffic in the area. At 9:30 a.m. the pilot contacted the Burbank Airport's control tower,[480] notifying the tower of the situation and was told he was "flying too low" to be tracked by radar.[481] At that time, the helicopter experienced extreme fog and turned south towards the mountains. At 9:40 a.m. the helicopter climbed rapidly from 1,200 to 2,000 feet (370 to 610 m), flying at 161 knots (298 km/h; 185 mph).[480]
At 9:45 a.m., the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and began burning. Bryant, his daughter, and the other seven occupants were killed. This also started a quarter-acre bush fire.[480] At 9:47 a.m. authorities were called. Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters responded to the scene, and paramedics rappelled from a helicopter to the scene to look for survivors. The fire was difficult to extinguish due to the presence of magnesium, but the fire had been extinguished by 10:30 a.m.[482][483] Initial reports indicated that the helicopter crashed in the hills above Calabasas in heavy fog.[484][485] Witnesses reported hearing a helicopter struggling before crashing