The National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB,
held a meeting to determine the cause of the helicopter crash that killed
NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, six others on board, and the pilot.
And while it has taken over a year, the NTSB is ready to rule on the cause of the
accident. While there was no black box in the helicopter when it crashed, it seems
that pilot error was to blame. NTSB chairman Robert L. Sumwalt concluded a February 9, 2021
press conference by saying that the tragedy was likely due to, quote, "sudden loss of judgment."
"Here’s a case where a pilot,
who was well-regarded, apparently got into a very bad situation."
The flying conditions on January. 26th, 2020, were not favorable. There was fog that made visibility
poor, and the pilot, Ara Zobayan was not allowed to fly in such conditions. The Federal Aviation
Administration, or FAA, has federal regulations known as Visual Flight Rules, or VFR. According
to the VFR, Zobayan was only allowed to fly in good weather or clear skies, neither of which were
the case that morning. In fact, many of the day’s flights had been grounded due to poor visibility.
As it turns out, Zobayan became disoriented in the clouds. He had only been flying the
Sikorsky S-76 for 39 minutes when he decided against an airport landing and instead tried
to fly out of the clouds. According to an NTSB board member, the Van Nuys airport was less than
12 miles behind them, which could have been covered within a few minutes of flying time.
Unfortunately, instead of climbing, the helicopter descended rapidly. It crashed into a hillside,
killing everyone aboard. There was no sign of mechanical failure. Instead,
evidence suggests that, rather than using flight instruments to guide him, Ara Zobayan
informed air traffic control of his decision to try to fly higher, to get above the clouds.
However, Zobayan unwittingly turned the helicopter left and began descending.
Zobayan, it seems, had become victim to a phenomenon known as spatial disorientation,
when a pilot is unable to determine their speed, altitude, or trajectory,
according to the FAA. NTSB chairman Sumwalt explained in his press conference:
"Literally the pilot may not know which way is up or down,
whether he or she is leaning left or right."
On board the aircraft, in addition to Zobayan, was Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna,
and six other people: Gianna's basketball teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton
Chester; Alyssa's parents, John and Keri Altobelli; Payton's mother Sarah Chester;
and their coach Christina Mauser. They were headed to a youth basketball tournament at Bryant's
Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County when the helicopter went down in Calabasas, California.
It remains unclear why Zobayan, who had already logged over 8,500 hours of flight time,
thought that weather conditions that day were, to quote a text-message he wrote, "looking ok".
As The Daily Mail notes, it wasn't the first time that the 50-year-old pilot had flown
Bryant and his children. Rather, the two had flown together so often that they had become friends.
Sources described Zobayan as Bryant's "go-to," and his company's "chief pilot." Zobayan’s colleague
Kurt Deetz further told the news source that Zobyanan was not a known risk-taker,
meaning his decision to fly the way he did would have been out of character.
The NTSB was quick to point to the absence of evidence that Zobayan was drunk or under the
influence of drugs during the fateful flight. Nor is there evidence that Bryant put any pressure on
his pilot to fly. Zobayan, however, may not have wanted to disappoint the NBA legend,
according to NTSB analysis. As NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg explained that:
"This pilot really wanted to get where he was going,"
adding that Zobayan may have had a, quote,
"self-induced desire" to "fulfill his client's travel needs".
Just maybe, the NTSB findings will help Vanessa Bryant,
in some small way along on her journey with grief. Kobe Bryant's late wife marked the
anniversary of Kobe's and Gianna's deaths with a heartfelt social media post, telling followers:
"I will never understand why/how this tragedy could've happened to such beautiful,
kind and amazing human beings. It still doesn't seem real."