The investigation of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant in January is ongoing, but we received some new details on Wednesday with the recent release of a report from the National Transportation Safety Board that offered new insight on what might have happened that morning.
The weather on that fateful day of January 26th were not good at all, and according to the recent documents, pilot Ara Zobayan could’ve been disoriented by the fog.
“Ara Zobayan radioed to air traffic controllers that he was climbing to 4,000 feet to get above clouds when, in fact, the helicopter was plunging toward a hillside where it crashed northwest of Los Angeles. The report by the National Transportation Safety Board said Zobayan may have “misperceived” the pitch of the aircraft, which can happen when a pilot becomes disoriented in low visibility. Experts said shortly after the crash that the path of the flight indicated Zobayan had lost his bearing.
That is commonly called “spatial disorientation,” which is the inability to determine angle, altitude or speed. It is most critical at night or in poor weather, when there is no visible horizon, since vision is the dominant sense for orientation.
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The 1,700 pages of reports do not offer a conclusion of what caused the crash but compile factual reports. A final report on the cause is due later.”
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, six friends, as well as the pilot all passed away when the helicopter crashed on a hillside in Calabasas, California traveling at a speed of 184 MPH.
The NTSB previously said there was no sign of mechanical failure in the Sikorsky S-76.
Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, is taking legal action against a number of parties involved in the accident. She is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for sharing photos of the crash, and the owners of the helicopter as well as Zobayan’s estate for the wrongful death of her husband and daughter.
