NBA: The helicopter in which Kobe Bryant was traveling costs 13 million and is used by the Spanish Army and the Queen of England | NBA 2019

Some 1,100 units were built, which currently operate on five continents. It is the helicopter of the Argentine president.

The Sikorsky S-76C, in which Kobe Bryant and his companions have found death, it's a classic of the genus, a frequent vision in the skies of the world and the improved version of the extended models A and B, born in the 70s. It is a medium size helicopter, built in the early 90s and originally conceived as commercial and civil transport. Thus, the greatest number of the approximately 1,100 copies built and sold on five continents. But its potential as a military device, duly modified and named “Spirit”, led to it being acquired by a dozen Areas Forces. Among them the Spanish.

Spain has helicopters, also some of Sikorsky, in the three branches of their Armed Forces. The S-76C (letter that of Sikorsky), renamed H-76 (helicopter ax), belongs to Army of the Air, which uses the eight available copies, assigned to Wing 78, as training platforms, at the base of Armilla (Granada). In Armilla all helicopter pilots of our Armies and Armed Bodies are formed (Civil Guard, National Police …). The Xunta de Galicia since 2005 it has had two copies, assigned in its Coast Guard Service. One based in Vigo and another in Vivero.

Igor Sikorsky was an engineer, aviator and visionary born in 1889 in the Ukrainian Kiev, then belonging to the Russian Empire. Migrated to United States in 1919, found the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 1923. Since then, based in Stratford (Connecticut), It has been one of the world leaders in the manufacture of helicopters civilians and military Especially military. Among them the SH-3 “Sea King”, the CH-53 “Sea Stallion”, the SH-60 “Seahawk” and the Celebrity UH-60 “Blackhawk”. The company was acquired in 2015 by the giant Lockheed Martin, which has kept it at the head of the aviation industry.

The S-76C costs around $ 13 million per unit, reaches almost 300 kms per hour, have a 4,200 meter flight ceiling and a scope of 760 kms. It has two motors and four blades in each of the rotors: the main and the tail. It is a very popular aircraft among senior executives and wealthy characters of all fields. Also between hierarchs. It is, for example, the Argentine presidential helicopter and officially used by the British Royal Family.