Ex-Navy pilot: Bryant’s group flew in ‘scary conditions’
The final minutes of interaction between the pilot of the helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and air traffic controllers did not indicate any cause for alarm – until the communication suddenly ceased.
That was a bad sign that within seconds turned into the worst possible outcome.
The NBA great, his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people were killed in a Sunday morning crash outside of Los Angeles that has left many questions, chief among them: Why were they flying in foggy conditions that prompted the police department to ground its helicopters?
That query quickly came to mind for Robert Ditchey, a longtime airplane pilot, aeronautical engineer and former airline executive who lives in Los Angeles. A team of investigators is looking into the reasons for the tragedy, but Ditchey said he suspected right away that weather was a factor, and the notion was reinforced when he found out the aircraft in question was a helicopter.
“This was totally avoidable, and on the part of some people I can go as far as to say irresponsible,” Ditchey said. “Here’s one of the most important people in the world who comes to a tragic end like this and you say, ‘Why? What the hell happened?’ ”
The bodies of Bryant and three other people killed the crash have been identified, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Tuesday. Fingerprints were used to confirm the identity of Bryant, 41, along with John Altobelli, 56; Sarah Chester, 45, and the pilot, 50-yearold Ara Zobayan, the Medical Examiner-Coroner reported.
Although the department had not yet formally identified five other victims, relatives and acquaintances have identified them as Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna; Sarah Chester’s 13-year-old daughter Payton; Altobelli’s wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa; and Christina Mauser, a girls basketball coach at a Southern California elementary school. The last of the bodies and the wreckage were recovered from the Calabasas hillside on Tuesday, authorities said.
An audio of the last four minutes of exchanges between Zobayan and air traffic controllers, which was captured by LiveATC.net and combined with flight data into a video on the YouTube channel VASAviation, provided only sparse clues.
Zobayan requested and was granted permission to fly the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter under special visual flight rules, which he was licensed to do. He was an experienced pilot who had logged 8,200 flight hours by July. The chartered luxury twin-engine aircraft often
was used by Bryant in traffic-jumping hops across the notoriously congested LA area. It was heading from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Camarillo Airport in Ventura County when it crashed in Calabasas.
As he transitioned from the air traffic controller in Burbank to the one in Van Nuys, Zobayan maintained his special VFR privileges while flying at 1,400 feet of elevation and staying close to freeways.
But when the Southern California controller took over communication and asked the pilot to identify himself, he heard nothing back.
Air traffic controller: “72EX, you’re following a 1200 code. So you’re requesting flight following?’’
Pilot: No response.
Air traffic controller: “72EX, where, say intentions.’’
Pilot: No response.
Air traffic controller: “72EX you’re still too low level for flight following at this time.’’
Pilot: No response.
In heavy fog and with no radio connection to the controller, which was likely blocked by the mountains and low altitude, the helicopter crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, near Malibu.
“They’re in the fog, and you’re down hugging the ground trying to fly up the highway and barely able to see it,’’ Ditchey said. “He’s down only 100 feet or so above the ground. In that area of the San Fernando Valley you have mountains on either side of you … and the clouds have obscured them, and you don’t have that much room to maneuver.’’