The helicopter that crashed, killing basketball great Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others, was not certified to fly in foggy conditions.
According to officials, Island Express Helicopters, which owned the Sikorsky S-76B that crashed, was allowed to operate under visual flight rules.
"The preliminary information is Island Express' 135 certificate did not allow for IFR flight," said Keith Holloway, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman. "No other specifics are available at this time."
Preliminary investigations have pegged foggy weather conditions as a possible cause for the crash.
Meanwhile, the Lakers played their first game since Bryant's death, and paid tribute to the star by wearing his numbers - 8 and 24 - during warm-up. They went against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Staples Center in LA.
Israeli forces killed 35 Palestinians in aerial and ground bombardments across the Gaza Strip on Thursday and battled in close combat with Hamas in areas of the southern city of Rafah, health officials and Hamas media said.
Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi is set to be buried in the holy city of Mashhad on Thursday evening, four days after he was killed in a helicopter crash along with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other people.
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv killed at least six people and wounded at least 11 on Thursday, local authorities said.
A furious China launched "punishment" drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to "separatist acts", sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te.
Nine people have died and around 50 were injured after a structure collapsed at a campaign event for the Citizens' Movement party in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.
Broadcasting every weekday, Georgia Tolley goes beyond the headlines to speak to government ministers, decision makers, analysts and local experts to find out how the news will impact those of us living in the UAE.
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