It has been a year since the devastating helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people on board.
On the anniversary of the NBA icon’s death, the cause of the tragedy is still a mystery – but it may not be for long.
The National Transportation Safety Board next month will hold a virtual hearing to determine the likely cause of the accident.
“The ‘probable cause’ is not to blame – it is more the most likely scenario that caused the accident,” Anthony Brickhouse, a former NTSB investigator, told The Post on Monday.
The NTSB has already ruled out engine and mechanical failure in the doomed helicopter and, in May, released more than 1,800 pages of evidence collected during its investigation.
“What the NTSB does is take all of that data and analyze it,” said Brickhouse.
“They look at the human element, they look at the machine – then the real helicopter – and they look at the environment in which the helicopter was actually operating.”
“I didn’t see anything to suggest that something mechanical went wrong with the helicopter,” continued Brickouse. “So, what you do is focus on the human element and the environmental element.”
“You put the puzzle back together. You process that information. “
“This is what we are going to achieve on February 9th”, the day of the hearing.
In the meantime, here’s what we know about the failure so far:
The flight:
On Sunday, January 26, 2020, at around 9:06 am, Bryant, 41, his daughter and six other passengers took off in a twin-engine Sikorsky S-76B from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
The legendary Los Angeles Laker was going to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, about 85 miles away.
Others on board included assistant basketball coach Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton, and baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter, Alyssa.
About 15 minutes after takeoff on a cloudy day, pilot Ara Zobayan – who was an employee of Island Express Helicopters and had previously flown Bryant – requested permission from air traffic controllers at Burbank Airport to enter his airspace.
Due to the low visibility, Zobayan had to apply for what is known as “special VFR” permission to fly, even under conditions.
After circling for about 11 minutes because of air traffic, the helicopter was allowed to enter Burbank airspace and then continued to move north towards Van Nuys Airport.
The accident:
The pilot told air traffic controllers around 9:44 am that he was “climbing” at 4,000 feet to avoid a cloud layer.
In fact, the helicopter rose slightly before turning suddenly to the left and descending quickly – crashing into a hillside at approximately 9:45 am
According to the NTSB, the pilot “could have misperceived the angles of inclination and rotation”, becoming spatially disoriented and feeling that his aircraft was climbing when he was not.
“When a pilot misses altitude and acceleration, this is known as a ‘somatogravic illusion’ and can cause spatial disorientation,” said the preliminary report.
Brickhouse explained: “When you have clear skies and good visibility, you can see what you need to see.
“But unfortunately, when you’re in the clouds, sometimes physiologically, your brain, based on your inner ear, you kind of get confused.”
“We have seen this in accidents in the past,” he added, “where pilots are in these conditions and have problems.”
The weather:
The weather on the day of the accident was another fact that investigators analyzed – with the evidence compiled in a 394-page weather report.
Videos and photos “depict fog and low clouds obscuring the tops of the hills,” notes the report, adding that Zobayan struggled with a “low cloud ceiling”.
The lawsuits filed by Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, and the families of the other victims argued that Zobayan should not have flown under conditions.
Both the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Police Department stopped their fleets that day due to fog and low clouds.
The helicopter:
The unfortunate helicopter, in turn, had a strong safety record and had transported Bryant before – including after his last game with the Lakers in 2016.
“Nothing in the history of this model catches my eye as being negative,” said Brickhouse.
However, the helicopter did not have a “black box” or flight recorder, nor did it have TAWS, a terrain warning system that alerts pilots when they are flying very close to the ground.
It is needed on medical helicopters, but not on commercial helicopters like the one used by Bryant, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
At the February 9 hearing, the NTSB will also make recommendations “to try to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future,” said Brickhouse.
“I am curious to know what the probable cause will be, what the contributing factors will be and, in the future, what will happen with these recommendations.”