Investigators Fault Pilot in Kobe Bryant Crash for Flying Into Clouds

The pilot violated flight rules by flying into the clouds, where he became disoriented and lost control of the helicopter, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine people who were killed when the helicopter they were flying in crashed in Southern California last year.
Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine people who were killed when the helicopter they were flying in crashed in Southern California last year.Credit…Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Feb. 9, 2021Updated 2:34 p.m. ET

The helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight other people in Southern California last year was most likely caused by the pilot’s decision to fly into clouds in violation of federal rules, blinding him to his surroundings and causing him to lose control of the helicopter as he became disoriented, investigators said on Tuesday.

Mr. Bryant, the retired star basketball player on the Los Angeles Lakers, was killed on Jan. 26, 2020, when the helicopter slammed into a fog-shrouded hill near Calabasas, Calif., erupting in flames. Everyone on board died, including the pilot, Mr. Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna, two teenagers who were on her basketball team, some of the children’s parents and an assistant coach.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday issued 13 findings after a yearlong investigation, concluding that the pilot, Ara Zobayan, lost his bearings and made a “poor decision” to fly at excessive speeds in bad weather. Mr. Zobayan’s choices were probably influenced by his “self-induced pressure” to complete the trip, according to the board, which also faulted what it said was a lack of review and oversight by his charter company, Island Express Helicopters.

Robert L. Sumwalt, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Mr. Zobayan was operating under rules that prohibited him from flying into the clouds, but that he had nonetheless tried to “punch up” above the clouds after encountering poor visibility. Mr. Zobayan became so disoriented, investigators found, that when he indicated to air traffic controllers that he was trying to climb, he was actually turning left and beginning a rapid descent.

The close relationship between Mr. Bryant and Mr. Zobayan, who had flown the basketball star and his children many times, may have made the pilot more eager to complete the flight, investigators said, but they found no indication that Mr. Bryant, the charter company or anyone else had pressured him to do so. Mr. Zobayan was an experienced pilot who would not be pressured to fly dangerous routes, colleagues have said. Still, investigators found that he made several errors in the minutes and hours preceding the crash.

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“This weather did not sneak up on the pilot,” Bill English, the lead investigator on the case, told board members, noting that the pilot had the “very easy alternative” of deciding the weather was too bad to continue and landing at an airport just a few minutes away.
ImageA Kobe Bryant fan left flowers at a makeshift memorial on the site of the helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., last month.
A Kobe Bryant fan left flowers at a makeshift memorial on the site of the helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., last month.Credit…Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Once disoriented, the pilot seemingly did not reference his instruments, did not understand them or did not trust them, investigators said. The helicopter did not have, and was not required to have, a “black box” that would have recorded data, images and audio of the cockpit that could have aided the investigation.

The five members of the safety board spent several hours at the live-streamed meeting asking questions of investigators who had spent the last year inspecting the destroyed helicopter, interviewing members of the charter company and considering what could stop future, deadly accidents. The board said there have been 184 fatal aircraft accidents between 2010 and 2019 in which a disoriented pilot was a factor, including 20 helicopter crashes.

Board members recommended that Island Express install flight data monitoring devices in its helicopters and said a panel of experts should be convened to evaluate simulation devices that could help train pilots about spatial disorientation. The agency also reiterated several recommendations that it had previously made to the Federal Aviation Administration but which it said had not been implemented.

The N.T.S.B. said shortly after the crash that there were no clear signs of significant engine failure, which gave more credence to the theory that Mr. Zobayan became disoriented in the heavy fog. He had written in a text message the night before the crash that the forecast looked to be “not the best” but, after waking in the morning, wrote that it was “looking OK,” according to messages released last summer by the N.T.S.B.

Mr. Zobayan had requested special permission to fly through low-visibility areas. He was a widely respected pilot who had logged more than 1,200 hours in the S-76 helicopter and was certified to fly with the use of his instruments in low visibility. But the certification that the Federal Aviation Administration issued to Island Express Helicopters only allowed its pilots to fly visually, meaning they must have at least a half-mile of daytime visibility and be able to see the ground.

Seconds before he crashed, according to the preliminary N.T.S.B. report, Mr. Zobayan told a flight controller he was trying to climb to 4,000 feet in an attempt to get above the clouds, but the helicopter was actually falling. The helicopter crashed at 9:45 a.m., about 39 minutes after it had taken off from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.

Mr. Bryant, who won five N.B.A. championships and two Olympic gold medals, had in recent years found joy in coaching Gianna, who went by Gigi and was the second-oldest of Mr. Bryant’s four daughters with his wife, Vanessa. Their helicopter was headed to the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, northwest of Los Angeles, which was rebranded with Mr. Bryant’s nickname when he partnered with the academy in 2018. Gianna’s team, which Mr. Bryant helped to coach, was scheduled to compete in a basketball tournament that day called the Mamba Cup.
The New York Times
Me: They went off with a BANG!!