Kobe Bryant's helicopter climbed to at least 2,200 feet in the air before crashing in foggy conditio

• Sources told CBS News and ESPN that Kobe Bryant's helicopter climbed to at least 2,200 feet in dense fog before crashing in Calabasas, California, on Sunday.
• A source told the CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave that the pilot told air-traffic control minutes before the crash that he was flying above the clouds.
• Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna "Gigi" Bryant, and seven others died in the crash.
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The NBA legend Kobe Bryant's helicopter climbed to at least 2,200 feet while taking a left turn before crashing in foggy conditions on Sunday, according to reports from CBS News and ESPN.

Bryant and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna "Gigi" Bryant, and the Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli and his family, were killed in the helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

A source told the CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave that the helicopter's pilot told air-traffic control minutes before the crash that he was climbing "above the layer," meaning the clouds.

Van Cleave said preliminary flight data showed that the helicopter was taking a left turn before diving.

ESPN said that in audio recordings it reviewed, an air-traffic controller told the pilot that the aircraft was "still too low level" to be picked up by radar. In other recordings, ESPN said, the pilot got guidance from air-traffic controllers while flying through dense fog.

A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, Josh Rubenstein, told CBS News that the weather "did not meet our minimum standards for flying."

Bryant and the others were flying in his Sikorsky S-76 private helicopter, a model with a strong safety record and a reputation as VIP transport.

Rubenstein said there was enough fog on Sunday morning that police did not fly helicopters until late in the afternoon. It's unclear whether the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its flights when Bryant's helicopter took off.

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• 'He taught me to sign my own checks': Kobe Bryant's ex-LA Lakers teammate Lamar Odom posted an extended, emotional tribute to his 'teacher'
• Here are the 9 victims of the Calabasas helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter

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