Security investigators said Tuesday the pilot of a helicopter that crashed in Los Angeles last year and killed basketball player Kobe Bryant, his daughter and six other people flew through the clouds in an apparent violation of federal standards and was likely disoriented. touched.
Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said pilot Ara Zobayan was flying under visual flight rules, meaning he should be able to see where he was going.
Zobayan was driving the plane to climb sharply and almost broke through the clouds when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter suddenly crashed and crashed into the hills below and killed everyone on board.
The helicopter did not have so-called “black box” recording devices that were not needed.
“I think the whole world is watching because it’s Kobe,” said Ed Coleman, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aviation University and a security expert.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura, January 26, 2020, when the helicopter crashed into the San Fernando Valley. north of Los Angeles. The NTSB said there was no mechanical failure.
The NTSB, which met remotely on Tuesday, has no enforcement powers. It can only submit proposals to bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration or the U.S. Coast Guard, which have repeatedly rejected recommendations for other disasters.
Some observers have suggested that it is recommended that helicopters have a terrain awareness and warning system, a device that indicates when an aircraft is in danger of crashing. The helicopter during the Bryant accident did not have the system, which the NTSB recommends as mandatory for helicopters. The FAA only needs it for air ambulances.
Federal lawmakers have sponsored the Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act to set up the devices on all helicopters carrying six or more passengers. Former NTSB chairman James Hall said he hoped the FAA would need the systems as a result of the crash.
“Historically, it has required high tragedies to move the regulatory needle forward,” he said.
The devices cost more than $ 35,000 and require training and maintenance.
Helicopter Association International discouraged the method it calls a ‘solution for everyone’. President and CEO James Viola said in a statement that equipping specific equipment for the entire industry would be ‘inefficient’ and ‘potentially dangerous’.
Even though Zobayan was flying at low altitude in a hilly area, the warning system may not have prevented the crash, Coleman said. The terrain could have caused the alarm to go off continuously and divert the pilot’s attention or prompted him to lower or ignore the volume, he added.
According to federal investigators, Zobayan, an experienced pilot who regularly flew with Bryant, may have the angles at which he descended and was mistakenly identified, which could occur if a pilot becomes disoriented in poor eyesight, according to NTSB documents.
The others killed were Orange Coast College coach John Altobelli; his wife, Keri; their daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.
The accident resulted in lawsuits and inconsistencies. On the day a massive memorial service was held at the Staples Center, where Bryant played most of her career, Vanessa Bryant sued Zobayan and the companies that own and operate the helicopter for negligence and the unlawful death of her husband and daughter. Families of other victims sued the helicopter companies, but not the pilot.
Vanessa Bryant said Island Express Helicopters, which operates the plane, and the owner, Island Express Holding Corp, did not properly train or supervise Zobayan. She said the pilot was careless and negligent in flying in fog and should have stopped the flight.
Zobayan’s brother said Kobe Bryant had the risks of flying in a helicopter, and that his survivors were not entitled to compensation from the pilot’s estate. Island Express Helicopters denied responsibility, saying the crash was an act of God he could not control. It also opposed two FAA air traffic controllers, saying the crash was caused by their ‘series of wrongdoing and / or omissions’.
According to the contrast, one controller incorrectly denied Zobayan’s request for ‘flight tracking’ or radar assistance in the fog. Officials said the controller terminated service because the radar could not be maintained at the altitude at which the plane was flying.
According to the lawsuit, the controller said he would soon lose radar and communications, but radar contact was not lost. When a second controller took over, the lawsuit said the first controller did not inform him about the helicopter, and because the radar services were not terminated correctly, the pilot was under the belief that he was being followed.
Vanessa Bryant also sued the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, accusing deputies of sharing unauthorized photos of the crash site. California now has a state law that bans such behavior.