(KNX 1070/CNS) - The LA County Coroner's office has confirmed the identity of four of the victims in the helicopter crash in Calabasas -- including Kobe Bryant.
The office says they used fingerprints to identify Bryant, John Altobelli -- the head baseball coach at Orange Coast College, Ara Zobayan -- the pilot of the helicopter, and Orange County resident Sarah Chester.
The office additionally took the FAA to task about not being equipped with "Terrain Awareness Assessment."
NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy says they believe the pilot missed clearing the top of the hill by 20-to-30 feet.
She says she was in touch with the families of the victims today, by conference call.
In ten days, the NTSB should present a preliminary report, which will discuss early conclusions but will not have a cause for the crash and that report will be released in 12-to-18 months.
All nine bodies have been recovered from the helicopter crash in Calabasas that killed Kobe Bryant.
NTSB released a YouTube video of B-Roll of investigators documenting the accident site of the helicopter crash in Calabasas:
"I literally just heard your voice Sunday morning before I left Philly to head back to LA. Didn’t think for one bit in a million years that would be the last conversation we’d have," he wrote.
Shaq also spoke on his podcast to pay tribute to Kobe saying he considered him to be a brother.
At 4 p.m. Monday, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a news briefing to discuss the probe into Sunday's helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others. The briefing will be held at the sheriff's department's Malibu/Lost Hills Station.
Little is likely to be known about what brought down the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter amid dense fog until the agency's investigation is completed. Such probes can often take a year or more to complete.
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department officers are patrolling the area and maintaining the perimeter for the investigation on horseback and with ATVs.
Although none of the victims of the crash has been formally identified by local authorities, relatives and friends have identified them as:-- Ara Zobayan, the instrument-rated pilot who was flying the helicopter;-- John Altobelli, 56, the veteran baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, along with his wife, Keri and their 13-year-old daughter Alyssa, a teammate of Gianna;-- Sarah Chester, 45, and her 13-year-old daughter Payton, who also played with Gianna and Alyssa; and-- Christina Mauser, 38, one of Bryant's assistant coaches on the Mamba Academy team.
Coroner's office officials said recovering the victims' remains from the rugged crash site could take "a few days." The area has been cordoned off by the sheriff's department, accessible only to area residents with identification, and the airspace above it has been declared a no-fly zone.
The helicopter took off from John Wayne Airport in Orange County at 9:06 a.m. Sunday, records show. The crash occurred in foggy conditions, which prompted the Los Angeles Police Department to ground its helicopter fleet, the nation's largest such fleet. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva also said his agency had no helicopters in the air at the time due to the conditions.
According to Business Insider, the helicopter that crashed Sunday was built in 1991 and owned by Island Express Holding Corp. and either chartered or leased by Bryant. The S-76 was designed for corporate transportation, especially within the oil industry, where executives were traveling between land and off-shore drilling platforms, and was inspired by the UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter, according to the publication.
The site says the helicopter's good safety record "has been largely attributed to its twin-turbine design, along with more rigorous training standards than some other civilian models, and the fact that it's frequently flown by two pilots, unlike most light helicopters."