“If they were just 100 feet higher” that one hurt😣

I love how everyone in the comments are trained pilots

This is a classic lesson to pilots of all experience to never become complacent. I was once told "this is the first time you have flown this flight", which basically means no matter how experienced you are what unfolds today is still something new. I always treated the airspeed during landing and the artificial horizon during instrument flight as things critical to life, because they are. Lastly, we must be aware of pilot workload and identify moments when our workload is increased. So, if we know we are turning our attention to navigation, we must realise that our attention on critical issues will now be impaired.

Nobody on board knew they were about to die except the pilot who for a second or two got to see the side of the mountain. Cant imagine how jawbreakingly scary those two seconds felt for the pilot and to the others on board i hope they didn’t suffer

I learned more from this than all the news coverage combined.

As a Helo pilot with 52 years and 28,000 hours experience I’ve seen this same scenario occur so many times yet pilots continue to put themselves into these situations

As a master helicopter pilot with over 100 years of experience, I can say with confidence that this crash would not have occurred if they hadn't gotten so close to the ground.

As someone who didn’t really follow the story when it happened, I had pictured that the helicopter was flying in a straight line with a slight dip and just plowed straight into the mountain they thought they were above. The reconstruction here really demonstrates how much low visibility can mess with your sense of direction/orientation when you don’t pay attention to the instruments.

Man.. for that split second when they finally saw the side of the mountain right before impact, that shit had to have been breathtakingly terrifying. RIP Everyone on board 🕊

Ugh. I think the most frustrating part of this is 100 feet and they would have been clear.

i use to get pissed when we would attend a flight briefing an hour before our flights. I would always say these dudes fly all the time lets just load up and go. The flight engineer and pilots would always go over the numbers (flight time, personnel, fuel, and training). Hearing about Kobe and learning about recent crashes from military helicopters has made me appreciate all the pre-checks and numbers the pilots and flight engineer put in! thank you 🙏🏽

I was one of the mountain bikers that came across the scene. It was myself and 2 hikers. We tried to look for survivors but there was nothing but pieces. I am an instrument rated pilot as well and I can tell you I would not have been flying on that day. Clouds were very low. The search and rescue Helicopter even had a hard time finding the site.

The part where you showed how there was no visibility gave me so much anxiety, I can’t imagine how scared they must have been :(

Honest to God I thought he was re-creating it in GTA 5

Steve, thanks for your time in creating this. It's great to have some perspective and understanding around what happened.

I would like to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for clarifying and enhancing the video of the horrific crash and subsequent agonizing death of Kobe Bryant. God bless you!

Im not going to agree with y’all ! keep saying the pilot killed them . HE COULDNT SEE EITHER . Like he died too . Y’all have to understand that !

I don't care how experienced that pilot was...It only takes one time to make such a huge mistake, and it's over.. His experience should have guided him to just turn around and go back before he got them all into that mess. This was senseless and completely avoidable.

Amazing work reconstructing the crash - very terrifying

I saw this when it came out but I’m here on the 1 year anniversary of their deaths rip Kobe his daughter and the others 🕊💜💛 rest in Peace

It sends chills down my spine thinking about how scared they would have been.

Imagine how scary it would be not knowing if you're climbing or falling and then moments before impact you see that you're literally diving towards the ground. RIP.

This was sad to watch...thanks for trying to share their last moments with us. Appreciate it.

Excellent recreation. I could never understand why anyone would get into a vehicle, car or aircraft, when they can’t see anything out the window. I drove my car in bad fog trying to get home. It was terrifying.

He never realized that he had dropped hundreds of feet so quickly a sign of sure vertigo. It happens in military all the time. 20yrs. 101AA CWO4 avionics specialist.

Why keep flying if you can’t see anything???

Informative. Thank you. R.i.p. to Kobe, Gigi, and the others in that crash...

Outstanding reconstruction, very well done.

So close 100 feet. That really bothers me.

Keri, John, Sarah, Christina, Ara, Gigi, Kobe, Alyssa and Payton (all the people lost on the helicopter)

Ok you are a genius. Brain crush!! I love it how you show us your process. I don’t think many people realize how difficult it is to do this. Keep it up I am subscribing.

Great work. I flew over that area in Aerofly FS2 in VR and put visibility to zero. It was just like you showed form the cockpit. Freaked me the hell out. No way I would have continued forward flight in those conditions.

i don’t know why there are so many dislikes, he’s giving us answers to our many questions

The helicopter should never have taken off, I don’t think that’s an overstatement. RIP Kobe.

Can't imagine what they felt as this crash was happening. So sorry. I pray it was quick

If you read all of their autopsy reports and factor in the speed in which the human brain can receive and digest information, they didn't think or feel a thing.

Can't imagine how they felt. I feel anxious when in car with fog that strong. Devastating 😔

All the “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve” in the world won’t be bring 3 teenage girls and 6 adults back. RIP everyone aboard that helicopter 🚁 Let me clarify what I mean, because I’m being attacked for this post for weeks now: I feel like everyone is misinterpreting my comment. It was simply a lament on my part. Simply my expression of how sad and senseless I feel about the whole damn thing. No need to attack me.

It’s absolutely insane this was already 3 years ago. Feels like I was walking out to my car reading the headline on my phone just last year

I appreciate seeing this again

This indicates to me that there's a better chance that they only suffered a few seconds if at all. I hope they never saw the ground coming since it was so quick.

Incredible to think that this pilot was actually a CFII (instrument instructor) with ~13,000 hours. His daily life at some point involved teaching new students how to fly in the EXACT conditions in which he got disoriented and unfortunately caused this tragic accident. It’s scary how powerful complacency can be when combined with VFR-into-IMC induced spatial disorientation.

This is why spacial awareness is crucial. It was the pilot's fault for not paying attention to where he was going. As soon as you lose visibility you focus on the instruments.

This reconstruction is a slam dunk!

Great work. I was in the airline business for 35 years, lost several friends in crashes, and my dad was a private pilot almost all of his life. These details always interest me. Thanks for sharing your private investigations.

That Sunday was so gloomy and depressing. Something bad was bound to happen

I bet this gets used in a documentary in a few years, great work

Wow Thankyou for this vid ❤❤

He probably didnt realize how close the hills were.

Remember we have backgrounds on JFK Jr's airplane crash in 1999 and Air France's Flight 447 in 2009, among others. Bad weather is a true factor of possible erratic reactions and spatial disorientation. Pilots, please don't defy bad weather, mother nature is wise.

I honestly find this video absurdly educational. I was dying to know how such a thing could’ve ever happened under normal circumstances.

Thank you for this.

1. Aviate 2. Navigate 3. Communicate He overloaded himself the entire flight.

I can't take this anymore. Love you Kobe 💕

It really doesn't matter how many years or how many hours you have logged. When you lose that spatial orientation (which can happen at ANY moment) due to darkness or fog, you better be able to fly by instrumentation or you are screwed.

Man this is pretty impressive dude

It could had been avoided 😭

Whenever I watch videos related to this topic my heart beats so fast just thinking about what it must of been like to be on that helicopter . I wish they never went on that helicopter that day, so sad. Praying they didn't know what was coming. REST IN ETERNAL HEAVEN all of them . Sweet Angels . You will be dearly missed.

This is cool work🙌🏽

RIP to Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and the helicopter's pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50.

Wow. :\ My heart dropped watching this seeing the animated plane going down, just imagining how terrified everyone was during those final moments. My god :(

Thank you for the time you put into making this video. I think I speak for everyone when I say we greatly appreciate it.

awesome recreation!

Good visualization of complete death and tragedy. You are very good at what you do, diving in so deep into the darkness... make sure you have a safety rope tied around your waist when you go to these places so a friend can pull you out in case something happens. The comparisons were really educational too for those interested in seeing your graphic animation prowess growth. Keep them coming.

All other helicopters were grounded due to the fog. So sad they didn't take head and found alternative for travel 💔😩😭

Long story short Rip to everyone involved my condolences to all families

It was his time to go onto another life and experience his next love.. And now his life had fulfil his dreams and goals, it was already done. Link this to his goodbye basketball letter. he knew his journey and life goal was over, he's somewhere again giving his all for the next goal he has. GO KOBE!❤

The left and down theory on the joystick is probably what it did it. I don't think the pilot realized they were going left and down, because there was no visibility and he was confused. When the chopper got out of the fog to see the mountain, it was too late because they were moving over 100mph. RIP Mamba forever

1:07 my whole body just tensed up seeing the visibility like that

This is heartbreaking in all ways.

Thx 4 sharing.

Thanks for helping us understand this horrific tragedy better. I can’t imagine this is easy.

It’s so good that we have this much information on what happened. There’s some deaths that go unsolved, so this is good.

This was what I was waiting for ..thanks for this. It makes plenty sense how this tragic event happened🙏🙏 RIP KOBE GIGI and the rest of the people on board.

very well informed video. nice work man

I had 20 hours of small plane flight experience and I still vividly remember my instructor demonstrating how disorientated you could get in a clouds, for example not realize you were in a turn or oriented funny and you need to watch your instruments.

I will never fly in a helicopter after what happened to Kobe.

Well done. Helps to bring clarification as to what may have happened in this very tragic incident.

This is the video I need😭

You did an amazing JOB!! VERY GOOD

Thank you for making this wonderful video representation for us all to see. Such useful information and it has explained it better to me then any news outlet could! 😊❤️👏🏼

Wow and that’s probably how it happened. Damn RIP to them all

This is a great video thanks for making it. I have one question if you are in clouds and cannot see is it possible to stop, hover and gently go down until you break through the clouds and can see? Moving forward unknown of your direction seems very dangerous but I am no pilot so what I said could be impossible to even do.

This is well done thanks for enlightening me. Those poor victims all of them God rest their souls.

We miss you Kobe and Gianna ❤️

Makes sense to me. Better version from what I’ve been seeing lately.

I just hope that they are in peace now, and it was hopefully instantaneous. Truly a heartbreaking situation, and I hope that this can be avoided in the future. God bless their family and their souls.

The precision and effort you put into this provided an odd form of closure

R.I.P Kobe, Gigi and everyone onboard that helicopter 🙏😢😭❤️💔

RIP everyone who passed in that crash. Nobody matter anymore than another❤️

Wow love your work!

If the pilot thought he was climbing and had no sensation he was going down, its fair to assume that everyone on the plane had no clue and where not holding each other screaming. They were probably just talking and suddenly lights out. If that's how it happened, at least no one suffered, no pain....its like one minute you are this world famous basketball player who is admire by millions, and in a blink of an eye you become history....like you were never here.

If the pilot was indeed looking to his 'down and left' to configure the Honeywell Flight Management System, this would be very indicative of a term known as "target fixation." I used to Road Race motorcycles and "target fixation" was something you had to constantly fight against. Any racer will know what i'm talking about! When you're going at a high rate of speed, you will have a tendency to steer exactly where it is you are looking. ESPECIALLY in a turn. Which is why you are taught to look straight through a turn, through the apex, (the line). As pointed out here, in this mock crash simulation, if the the pilot was looking down and to his left, that's exactly where he would unknowingly start to steer, target fixation... In my early days as Marine crew chief, I spent a few thousand hours in the back of Helo's. H 53E's, UH1N Huey's, and CH-46 Sea Knights. Though i'm not a pilot, i was in constant radio contact with pilots and heard every word they said, and would often be standing right behind them during flight. We were often deployed aboard Navy vessels and spent many hours out at sea, which means flying in lots of fog! Though there are not as many obstacles to run into out at sea, you still have to avoid the water. I remember when we were in complete 'white out fog' the pilots would slow down our forward speed and rely heavily on instrumentation, namely that life saving ADI (attitude directional indicator). It's just like it sounds, it shows you the ATTITUDE of the aircraft. It tells you If you're flying level or not. But, like anything else, your craft has to have an operating ADI and you need to be well versed in its operation. If you're flying in fog and can't see, the ADI needs to be one of the things that has your immediate attention. It can assist in keeping you from flying into terrain. Helicopters are a slightly unstable craft to begin with, simply by design. It's like flying on a knife's edge. It is constantly affected by winds trying to topple it over or push it in one direction or another so it requires quite the touch to counteract these forces and keep it upright, more so than a plane. If you are going to pilot in fog, you had better be well practiced in it!!! The pilot in this case has been flying for a long time, how much of that time has he spent in 'fog like' conditions? I have no idea, but it's clear to me, in my amatuer opinion, that not being able to see where he was going seemed to put him into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory. And it distracted him long enough, a few seconds is all it takes, and the craft went into a direction that he did not counter or account for and they flew, unwittingly, right into the hillside. It's easy for us to second guess and play armchair Monday morning quarterback as to what happened, we have the luxury of time to do that. The fact is that this accident was set into motion early in this flight by a series of 'human factors.' The final demise taking only seconds to play out. And if you have only seconds to try and save your life, you're going to need an incredibly ridiculous amount of luck!!! I am just not able to process his forward speed, a reported 185 knots or so, when you have zero visibility. He was truly lost, and so now they all share the same fate...May God watch over them and their loved ones.

Dude broke it down for real. Thanks for your research

almost 3 years oh my god miss you and love you my man and your family so much still no words Just rip Kobe 😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh my god I just realized that I used to live like a couple of miles away from where this happened. I can literally see my old house in the recreation at 0:57 that's insane I never knew.

Ugh if he would’ve just flew up about another 100 feet he’d be out of the clouds...that’s f’n mind boggling. This whole thing is just beyond heart breaking and this NEVER should’ve happened!!! I’m just speechless...

Thanks to the creator of this video. This is the first re-creation that didnt make me want the creator to die in their sleep.

With today’s software, recreations like this are a slam dunk