No, US Army Black Hawk helicopter not the same model as chopper in Kobe Bryant’s crash

Federal investigators are continuing to probe the Jan. 29 midair collision between a PSA Airlines plane and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River, near Washington, D.C.

But misinformation about the crash persists.

A viral video claims to show a link between the recent collision and the Jan. 26, 2020, helicopter crash that killed Basketball Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and eight others.

"Almost 5 years to the day after Kobe’s fake crash.. same helicopter model and the Potomac they say is 24 feet deep (Kobe’s uniform number)," the caption of the Jan. 30 video said. The video features screenshots and clips of news reports about both accidents and claims a conspiratorial link with the number 13.

The Instagram video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

But this claim is a whirlwind of nothing. 

The helicopter crash that killed Bryant in a hilly field near Calabasas, California, was not fake. Federal investigators faulted pilot error amid adverse weather for the crash.

Sikorsky, a subsidiary of the aerospace and defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp., made both helicopters. But the choppers are different models with different purposes. 

Bryant, his daughter, and their friends traveled in a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, the National Transportation Safety Board’s final accident report, released in 2021, shows.

The U.S. Army helicopter that collided with the passenger plane was a Sikorsky UH-60 "Black Hawk" helicopter, according to preliminary reports by the NTSB, which investigates all air accidents in the U.S.

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The S-76B is a luxury helicopter used to ferry celebrities and other high profile figures. It can be customized to seat five to eight passengers along with crew members, according to its makers.

A small number of this helicopter model is used by air ambulances and during search and rescue, but its primary clientele are VIPs. "Ten countries rely on the S-76 for the Head of State mission," according to Lockheed Martin. About 875 have been sold since it was first introduced in 1977, the company said.

The Sikorsky UH-60 "Black Hawk" is far from a luxury aircraft. Unlike the sleekly designed S-76B, the Black Hawk is rugged and multifunctional. The U.S. Army has used the Black Hawk in its fleet for 47 years.

"It provides air assault, general support, aeromedical evacuation, command and control, and special operations support to combat, stability and support operations," the Army said.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter can seat 12 soldiers and can also serve in firefighting and search and rescue operations. 

The California Army National Guard deployed Black Hawks in January fire fighting operations in southern California. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has used the UH-60 to patrol the southern border in search of illegal border crossers, and Canadian authorities recently said they will be using Black Hawks to surveil a section of its border with the United States for unauthorized migrant crossings.

The two helicopters involved in these high-profile crashes are different models with different purposes and customers. We rate the claim that they are the same model False.