NEW KOBE SHOCK Cloud-lost pilot could have landed: NTSB
The helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others was likely caused by the pilot’s decision to fly through a thick wall of clouds in violation of federal regulations — even though he had opportunities to land, safety regulators announced Tuesday.
Just before the Jan. 26 2020, crash in Calabasas, Calif., pilot Ara Zobayan. who was among those killed, told air-traffic controllers he was climbing and about to break through the clouds — but he was actually descending rapidly in a maneuver consistent with “spatial disorientation,” the National Transportation Safety Board concluded.
“The pilot doesn’t know which way is up,” investigator-in-charge Bill English said of the phenomenon, also known as a “somatogravic illusion,” during a four-hour meeting on the long-awaited findings.
The 41-year-old hoops legend, his daughter Gianna, 13, and six other passengers were being flown from Orange County to a youth basketball tourney at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County when the chopper encountered thick clouds in the San Fernando Valley north of LA.
Zobayan did not have an alternative flight plan and chose not to land the highend Sikorsky S-76 chopper to wait out the bad weather — even though Federal Aviation Administration standards require pilots to be able to see where they are going and there was an airport nearby, investigators said.
“There were opportunities along the way to have reversed the course and prevented this crash by simply landing,” NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters after the meeting.
While investigators did not find any evidence that Bryant or anyone else put pressure on Zobayan to complete the flight, an NTSB official said the pilot may have placed pressure “on himself ” because he did not want to let down the five-time NBA champion.
“They had a good relationship with the client and likely did not want to disappoint them by not completing the flight,” NTSB human-performance investigator Dr. Dujuan Sevillian said.
“This kind of self-induced pressure can adversely affect a pilot’s decision-making and judgment.”
Investigators previously revealed that the chopper lacked a Terrain Awareness and Warning System, or TAWS — which was not mandatory — that could have warned the pilot he was too close to the ground.
However, the NTSB said Tuesday that TAWS “would not have made a difference” in the terrain, combined with the pilot’s spacial distortion.
The board still recommended that TAWS become mandatory for helicopters and also that the FAA convene a panel on spatial disorientation and require pilot training simulations to address decision making around adverse weather.With