The pilot operating the helicopter that crashed and led to the deaths of Kobe Bryant and several others in 2020, flew into clouds and likely got disoriented, according to investigators.
The pilot, Ara Zobayan, flew into the clouds even though he wasn’t allowed to under the rules that he was operating under, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board announced on Tuesday. During his autopsy, authorities did not find alcohol or drugs in his system.
Seconds before the crash on Jan. 26, 2020, he reportedly told a flight controller that he was trying to climb to 4,000 feet to get above the clouds, but the helicopter was actually falling at the time. That remark is a sign that investigators pointed to in their explanation that he got disoriented in the clouds.
“The resulting descent and acceleration were conducive for the pilot to experience a somatogravic illusion in which he would incorrectly perceive that the helicopter was climbing when it was descending,” an NTSB official said in a meeting. “The helicopter continued this steep descent the pilot was either not referencing the instruments or having difficulty interpreting or believing them due to the compelling vestibular illusions and he did not successfully recover the helicopter.”
The investigation also found no mechanical problems with the helicopter that would explain the crash.
“This weather did not sneak up on the pilot,” Bill English, the lead investigator on the case, told board members.
Those who died along with Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli; his wife, Keri, and their daughter, Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton, as well as the pilot. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.
The pilot likely put pressure on himself to make sure he could transport them, the NTSB official said in the meeting, according to Fox News.
“The pilot took pride in these positions with both the client and Island Express. They had a good relationship with the client and likely did not want to disappoint them by not completing the flight. This self-induced pressure can adversely affect pilot decision-making and judgment,” the NTSB official said.
Vanessa Bryant, Bryant’s widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that operated the helicopter nearly a year ago arguing that Zobayan was “negligent” and failed “to use ordinary care in piloting the subject aircraft.”
