NTSB Docket for Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter Accident

NTSB, June 18, 2020 - WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened the public docket as part of its ongoing investigation of the fatal, January 26, 2020, helicopter crash near Calabasas, California.

The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, operated by Island Express Helicopters, Inc., collided with hilly terrain and was destroyed by impact forces and fire. The pilot and eight passengers were fatally injured.

The docket includes more than 1,700 pages of factual reports on operations, survival factors, human performance, air traffic control, and aircraft performance. The docket also includes interview transcripts, photographs, and other investigative materials.

The docket contains only factual information collected by NTSB investigators; it does not provide the final report, nor does it contain analysis, findings, recommendations, or probable cause determinations. As such, no conclusions about how or why the crash occurred should be drawn from the information within the docket.

Analysis, findings, recommendations, and probable cause determinations related to the crash will be issued by the NTSB in a final report at a later date.

The public docket for this investigation is available online at https://go.usa.gov/xwmT2.

Additional material may be added to the docket as it becomes available.

Contact: NTSB Media Relations
490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20594
Keith Holloway
(202) 314-6100
[email protected]


The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining the probable cause of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families.

Basketball player Kobe Bryant and 8 others died when the S-76B helicopter struck a hillside in heavy fog in Calabasas, California