9 Investigates

Channel 9 gets inside look at how NTSB investigates aircraft crashes

VIRGINIA — New video shows the aftermath of the helicopter crash that killed NBA star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others. Fiery wreckage and debris could be seen scattered all over the California hillside.

Sadly, it is not the first plane crash involving a star athlete. In August, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family ran for their lives from their burning plane after it crashed in Tennessee.

Since then, Eyewitness News anchor Allison Latos has been looking into how the National Transportation Safety Board investigates these types of crashes.

“We look at the man, the machine and the environment,” NTSB Senior Air Safety Investigator Brian Rayner said.

Watch the video above as Allison gets an inside look at the NTSB and learns it’s a complicated, time consuming process to be able to piece together sometimes tiny pieces of metal and pulling data from smashed computer parts. But ultimately, it can answer major questions and even, save lives.