The two engines of the luxury helicopter that crashed into a steep hillside, killing basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and eight others near Los Angeles last month, showed no evidence of a "catastrophic internal failure," federal investigators said on Friday.
The interim report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on its crash probe 12 days after the Jan. 26 accident also said the examination of the rotor assemblies found damage "consistent with powered rotation at the time of impact."
The findings, while preliminary, pointed to no obvious signs of mechanical problems that might have contributed to the fiery crash in which Bryant, 41, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and all seven others aboard the helicopter perished.