Helicopter pilot killed after crashing in southern California last year Kobe Bryant And seven other passengers went against his training and violated flight rules by flying in thick clouds, U.S. safety officials said Tuesday during a hearing considering the possible causes of the crash. Pilot Ara Zobayan was probably so obscured that he could not escape from below, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board concluded.
The agency criticized Zobayan’s decision to fly in the clouds, saying he had violated federal standards by allowing him to see the helicopter go off before it crashed during a 40-minute flight. Zobayan was among nine people killed, including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
Let’s see how to talk to the NTSB chairman about the Kobe Bryant crash today
- What: Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, has media access to the board’s investigation into the fatal helicopter crash near Calabasas, California.
- Date: 921 February, Tuesday
- Time: 2 p.m. ET
- Location: Virtual
- Stream Online Stream: Live on CBSN in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device
The pilot went awkwardly in thick clouds and went against his training, a condition that pilots have a low-vision position, when they do not understand how the bottom or the plane is banking.
On January 26, 2020, just before the crash, Zobayn told flight controllers that he was climbing into a helicopter and breaking through the clouds.
But investigators with the security agency said the Sikorsky S-76 76 helicopter was in fact banking and began to land at increasing intensity, investigators said.
They also said Zobayne did not file a backup flight plan and chose not to land at a nearby local airport to wait for bad weather.
Mark J. Terrill / AP
The Security Council stated that 184 aircraft crashed during 2010-2019, including 20 fatal helicopter crashes.
Board member Michael Graham said Zobayn ignored his training, adding that “helicopter pilots don’t rely on vehicles that require high-level training unless instruments continue to fall on the clouds,” a “certain percentage won’t come out alive.” “
“How much of the cloud, when you’re on a program of visual flight rules, don’t pilots understand?” Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg added.
The meeting on Tuesday focused on the long-awaited possible causes or causes of the tragedy, bringing global grief to the retired basketball star, initiating several lawsuits and asking for state and federal law.
Bryant, Gianna and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his mamba sports academy in Ventura County, while the helicopter encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.
The safety board had earlier said there were no signs of mechanical failure and the crash was believed to be an accident. Helicopters did not have so-called “Black B” x “recording devices, which is not necessary.
The board is an independent federal agency that investigates transportation-related crashes but has no enforcement powers.
It submits suggestions to agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration or the Coast Guard, which have repeatedly rejected some of the board’s safety recommendations in the wake of other disasters.
Following the wreck, the need for all helicopters with six or more people with Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems was not brought to bear, which was not present on Bryant’s helicopter. According to CBS Los Angeles reports, Democratic congressman Brad Sherman introduced the Kobe Bryant and Ginna Bryant helicopter safety laws last year, directing the Federal Aviation Administration and the Safety Board to put those systems in all helicopters.
However, Bill English, in-charge, said on Tuesday that the system would not have been helpful in the event that Bryant’s helicopter crashed.
The hilly region connected to the pilot’s spatial clutter in the clouds, English said.
“The pilot doesn’t know which way to go,” English said.
Federal investigators said Zobayan, an experienced pilot who often flew Bryant, may have landed and banking at the corners he landed, which could be a “misconception,” which can occur when pilots become less visually different. .
Investigators on Tuesday also accused Zobayan of doing left-side banking instead of straight up, while trying to get out of bad weather.
Along with Obe1-year-old Kobe and Gianna, 56-year-old John to Lotobelli, a longtime coach of the Orange Range Coast College base team, his wife Carrie, and his 1-year-old daughter Alyssa, who was Gianna’s partner, were killed in the crash.
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