The pilot in the helicopter crash that claimed the life of NBA legend Kobe Bryant told air traffic controllers he was trying to climb out of heavy fog just before the doomed chopper slammed into a hillside, preliminary findings showed on Wednesday. Pilot Ara Zobayan radioed to air traffic control that he was climbing to 4,000 feet soon before the helicopter crashed near Calabasas on January 26. Los Angeles Lakers icon Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and six other people on board died in the accident.