Federal security officials blamed the crash of the helicopter that killed him on Tuesday Kobe Bryant and eight more on board last year due to the pilot’s bad decision to fly in thick clouds, where he disoriented and submerged the plane on a Southern California slope. The National Transportation Safety Board said the lack of visibility probably led pilot Ara Zobayan to become so disoriented amid the thick fog north of Los Angeles that he could not perceive from top to bottom.
The five board members also said Zobayan, who also died in the crash, ignored his training and violated federal regulations during the 40-minute flight.
The agency announced its findings during a four-hour hearing aimed at identifying the likely causes of the tragedy, which sparked widespread public mourning for the retired basketball star, initiated several lawsuits and pushed for state legislation and federal.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and six other passengers, were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at their Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County, when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter crashed. with thick fog in the San Fernando Valley on January 26, 2020. There were no signs of mechanical failure and the accident was believed to have been an accident.
The researchers said they believed Zobayan experienced a spatial disorientation known as “tilts,” which occurs in the inner ear and makes pilots believe they fly straight, level planes when they actually bank.
The agency criticized Zobayan’s decision to fly in the clouds, saying Federal Aviation Administration rules require pilots to be able to see where they are going under what are called visual flight rules.
Board members, in a unanimous vote, also cited the self-induced pressure Zobayan was likely to feel to end the flight for his star client, whom he often flew, instead of landing at a nearby local airport when the time was worse than I expected. Zobayan also did not present a safety flight plan before leaving.
“The closer you get to the destination, the more you think you might be able to achieve that,” Vice President Bruce Landsberg said.
Mark J. Terrill / AP
The agency also accused Island Express Helicopters Inc., which operated the aircraft, of inadequate review and oversight of safety issues.
Just before the crash, Zobayan told flight controllers he was boarding the helicopter and had almost broken the clouds. But investigators said the helicopter was in fact banked and was beginning to descend rapidly.
The plane had climbed abruptly and almost managed to break the fog and clouds when the helicopter made a sharp turn to the left and sank in grassy hills and with oak in the city of Calabasas.
When it hit land, the helicopter flew at 184 mph and descended at a speed of more than 4,000 feet per minute.
The impact caused a crater and scattered debris over an area the size of a football field. The victims died immediately.
Between 2010 and 2019, there were 184 aircraft crashes that involved a spatial disorientation, including 20 deadly helicopter crashes, the security board said.
Board member Michael Graham said Zobayan was unaware of his training and added that while helicopter pilots continue to fly in the clouds without relying on instruments, which requires a high level of training, “a certain percentage will not come out alive “.
“What part of the cloud, when you use a Visual Flight Rules program, don’t pilots understand?” Landsberg added.
The helicopter did not have recording devices called “black box”, which were not necessary.
The safety board is an independent federal agency that investigates transportation-related accidents, but has no enforcement powers. It sends suggestions to agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration or the Coast Guard, which have repeatedly rejected some of the council’s safety recommendations after other disasters.
Over the past year, experts have speculated that the crash could lead to the need for warning and terrain knowledge systems, devices that indicate when planes are in danger of crashing into helicopters. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California last year introduced the Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act, which would direct the federal government to place these systems on all helicopters, CBS Los Angeles reports.
The helicopter that Bryant was flying did not have the system, which the security board has recommended as mandatory for helicopters. The aviation administration requires it only for air ambulances.
However, Bill English, a researcher in charge of the security board, said on Tuesday that the system probably would not have been useful in the scenario in which Bryant’s helicopter crashed.
The mountainous terrain, combined with the pilot’s spatial disorientation in the clouds, would have made the warning system a “confusing factor,” English said.
“The pilot doesn’t know what the route is,” English said.
The other dead in the crash were John Altobelli, an Orange Coast College baseball coach, his wife, Keri, and his daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.
The accident generated lawsuits and lawsuits.
On the day of a mass memorial service at the Staples Center, where Bryant spent most of his career, Vanessa Bryant sued Zobayan and the companies that own and operate the helicopter for alleged negligence and unlawful deaths. of her husband and daughter. Families of other victims sued the helicopter companies, but not the pilot.
Vanessa Bryant said Island Express Helicopters Inc. and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp., did not properly train or supervise Zobayan. He said the pilot was careless and careless about flying in fog and that he should have aborted the flight.
Zobayan’s brother, Berge Zobayan, has said that Kobe Bryant knew the risks of flying by helicopter and that his survivors are not entitled to damage to the pilot’s estate. Island Express Helicopters Inc. he denied responsibility and said the accident was “an act of God” he could not control.
The company also countered two air traffic controllers, saying the crash was caused by its “series of erroneous acts and / or omissions.”
Vanessa Bryant also sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, accusing lawmakers of sharing unauthorized photos of the crash site. California now has a state law that prohibits such conduct.