Experts cite weather, the 'largest killer in aviation,' as likely key factor in Kobe Bryant helicopter crash

LOS ANGELES - The light haze that had settled on the runway of John Wayne Airport when Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six other passengers boarded a helicopter Sunday morning likely would not have posed much of a concern to a helicopter pilot with nearly 20 years of flying experience.

But conditions changed about a half-hour later, when the aircraft was flying over thickening clouds in the San Fernando Valley that reduced visibility predicted earlier in the day. Visibility had diminished so much that the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its own fleet of helicopters