Federal officials announced on Tuesday that the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others last year occurred because the pilot was probably disoriented when flying into the clouds, violating federal rules.
The pilot, Ara Zobayan, who also died in the January 26, 2020 accident in Calabasas, California, was operating the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter under rules that prevented him from flying in the clouds. However, he did not follow his training and remained in the clouds just before the aircraft hit a misty hill, investigators said.
The accident also killed Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, two other teenagers with their families, along with a basketball coach. The victims were en route to Orange County for a women’s basketball game at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy.
Upon encountering the fog, Zobayan notified air traffic controllers that he was climbing 4,000 feet to stay above the cloud layer, when in fact, the helicopter was really “descending quickly,” federal investigators said during a National Transportation Safety Board. (NTSB) hearing on Tuesday.
The NTSB determined that Zobayan probably experienced “spatial disorientation”, a misleading feeling that confuses pilots in not knowing “which way is up or down”.
Investigators also said that due to his “very close” friendship with Bryant over the years during which the NBA legend entrusted him to take his children alone to basketball games, Zobayan may have experienced “self-induced pressure” to complete the flight, so as not to disappoint Bryant.
Although the NTSB has stated that there is no evidence to suggest that the pilot’s employer, Island Express or Bryant himself has pressured Zobayan to accept the chartered flight or complete it, “self-induced pressure can adversely affect the pilot and trial. “
The investigators indicated that the pilot’s self-induced pressure may have been a factor in the “trend of continuing the plan”, meaning that the pilot continued the flight without engaging in an alternative course of action, such as landing at a nearby airport. despite the deteriorating weather conditions.
NTSB officials said the pilot was aware of the terrain before the flight and that “time did not appear” on him.
Faced with difficult weather conditions during the flight, Zobayan could have chosen to land the helicopter at a nearby airport, which was just minutes away, said NTSB chief investigator Bill English during the hearing.
As he climbed the clouds, Zobayan lost visual external references that could lead to a “false sense of orientation” due to the “illusions” of the inner ear, the researchers said. This can make pilots believe they are flying straight and level when, in reality, they are flying in a constant left turn – a phenomenon known as “slopes”.
As soon as Zobayan flew into the clouds, he incorrectly realized that he was ascending, when in reality “the helicopter was making a sharp left turn and descending rapidly,” the investigators said.
“This maneuver is consistent with the pilot experiencing spatial disorientation and conditions of limited visibility,” officials said.
During the descent, the pilot communicated with air traffic control on several occasions, but did not declare an emergency, said the NTSB.
“The excessive speed when entering the cloud, the rapid rate of decline and the conversion to the left were inconsistent with their training,” said the agency.
Even while the helicopter was on a deep descent, the pilot did not consult his instruments or had difficulty interpreting or believing them while he was disoriented, and later lost control of the aircraft.
The NTSB said that from 2010 to 2019, there were 184 fatal aircraft accidents related to space disorientation, 20 of which were fatal helicopter accidents.
NTSB President Robert Sumwalt said that the spatial disorientation did not mean the pilot was lost.
He said that the spatial disorientation means that the pilot “may not know which side is up or down, whether it is tilted left or right”.
“It’s not like this accident happened because the pilot was flying and didn’t know where the hills were and he tripped over a hillside,” said Sumwalt.
The accident is now at the center of several state and federal lawsuits, including a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, who alleged negligence on the part of Zobayan and Island Express in causing the accident.
The complaint alleged that Zobayan “failed to properly monitor and assess the time before takeoff”, “failed to abort the flight when he knew of cloudy conditions” and “piloted the helicopter inappropriately in instrument flight conditions”.