Pilot in Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash pushed the limits of bad weather flight rules, says NTSB

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The comments were made during a meeting of the National Transportation Safety Board that will consider an official cause of the January 26, 2020 crash that killed Bryant, his daughter, the pilot and six others.

The meeting, which is still underway on Tuesday morning, will include possible lengthy safety recommendations as a result of the crash, including sharper calls for more safety training for helicopter pilots to prevent them from accidentally flying into clouds.

“We use the term crash instead of accident,” said Bruce Landsberg, vice president of the NTSB. “An accident (is) just something that is unforeseen, unpredictable, if you will. Unfortunately this was not. “

At the meeting, investigators said Island Express pilot Ara Zobayan may have been pressured to perform for a high-profile client and continued to fly in deteriorating weather conditions.

They said he climbed what witnesses described as a ‘wall of clouds’, became potentially disoriented and unconsciously turned into a cloud-obscured hill he knew was there.

“It’s not like … the pilot flew with him, didn’t know where the hills are and crashed into the side of a hill,” said Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the NTSB.

Investigators said the helicopter was equipped to fly in the clouds with the pilot operating solely with respect to the instruments – known as Instrument Flight Rules or IFR – but the Island Express charter agreement with the FAA allowed only flights where the pilot was visually could maintain contact with the ground, known as Visual Flight Rules or VFR.

“It seems these flights should have been operated under IFR,” Sumwalt said.

All 9 people on board were killed

The helicopter crashed on hilly terrain in foggy conditions in Calabasas. The passengers were on their way from Orange County to the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a youth basketball game in which Kobe would coach Bryant and Gianna and two others would play on board.
Young athletes, a baseball coach and moms. What we know about the others in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant

In addition to Bryant, 41, and Gianna, 13, the crash claimed the lives of her teammates Payton Chester, 13, and Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Payton’s mom, Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa’s parents Keri Altobelli, 46, and John Altobelli, 56; assistant coach Christina Mauser, 38; and pilot Zobayan, 50.

All nine on board died of blunt trauma, and the manner of death was accidental, according to a coroner’s office.

Bryant, a 41-year-old 18-time All Star who won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, had made the trip to Thousand Oaks several times as a coach for the academy.

Pilot appeared to become disoriented in the fog, previous documents show

Weather and visibility were a concern prior to the flight, and Zobayan discussed the plan to proceed in a group text earlier the trip, NTSB documents released last year show. Visibility was so low that morning that the Los Angeles Police Department had decided to ground their helicopters.
During the voyage, the pilot appeared to be disoriented in the fog, according to documents released by the NTSB last year.
During the flight, Zobayan told a controller in a final announcement that he would climb to 4,000 feet to get over the clouds, the NTSB said last year.
Radar showed that the craft climbed to about 700 meters above sea level at around 9:45 AM and turned left, before descending at high speed. it fell off the radar at about 1,200 feet, near the crash site, the NTSB had said.

The first call for the flight came in at 9:47 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.

Here's what happened in the minutes before the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash

The helicopter crashed into a hill in Calabasas, and parts were found scattered over an area stretching up to 600 feet, the NTSB said days after the incident.

In a February 2020 update from the NTSB on the crash investigation, the board said there was no evidence of engine failure. Later that month, it released a preliminary report highlighting the overcast weather in the area that day.
Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, took the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Villanueva to court after the crash of eight deputies taking photos of the scene and the deceased victims. A leak from the department led to TMZ breaking the news and fans flocking to the site.

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, signed a privacy invasion bill in September that would make it illegal for first responders to share photos of a deceased person at a crime scene “for any purpose other than an official law enforcement purpose.”

Under the new “Kobe Bryant Act,” which went into effect this year, a first responder found guilty of the crime can be fined up to $ 1,000 per offense.

CNN’s Jason Hanna contributed to this report.

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