It’s been a year since the devastating helicopter crash in which Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people on board were killed.
On the anniversary of the death of the NBA icon, the cause of the tragedy is still a mystery – but it may not last long.
The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a virtual hearing next month to determine the probable cause of the crash.
“The ‘probable cause’ does not admit guilt; that’s probably the scenario that caused the crash, ‘Anthony Brickhouse, a former NTSB investigator, told The Post on Monday.
The NTSB has already ruled out the motor and mechanical breakdown of the doomed helicopter and in May released more than 1,800 pages of evidence collected during the investigation.
“What the NTSB is doing is taking all the data and analyzing it,” Brickhouse said.
“They look at the human element, they look at the machine – hence the actual helicopter – and they look at the environment in which the helicopter actually operates.”
“I saw nothing to indicate that anything was mechanically wrong with the helicopter,” Brickouse added. “So what you do is focus on the human element and the environmental element.”
‘You put that puzzle back together. You crunch that information. ”
‘This is what we’re going to get on February 9’, the day of the trial.
Meanwhile, this is what we know so far about the accident:
The flight:
On Sunday, January 26, 2020, at approximately 9:06 a.m., Bryant, 41, his daughter and six other passengers took off in a twin-engine Sikorsky S-76B from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
The legendary Los Angeles Laker was on his way to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, about 85 km away.
Others on board included assistant basketball coach Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, and baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter, Alyssa.
About 15 minutes after takeoff on the cloudy day, pilot Ara Zobayan – who was employed by Island Express Helicopters and had previously flown with Bryant – asked permission from Burbank Airport air traffic controllers to enter his airspace.
Due to poor visibility, Zobayan had to request permission known as ‘special VFR’ permission to fly through, even under the circumstances.
After circling for about 11 minutes due to air traffic, the helicopter was allowed to enter Burbank airspace and then move further north to Van Nuys Airport.
The accident:
The pilot told air traffic controllers at about 09:44 that he was “climbing” up to 4,000 feet to avoid a cloud cover.
In fact, the helicopter climbed slightly before suddenly turning left and quickly descending and crashing into a hill at about 09:45.
According to the NTSB, the pilot could have ‘misunderstood both the angles and roll angles’, while being spatially disoriented and feeling that his plane was climbing if it was not.
“If a pilot experiences the altitude and acceleration incorrectly, it is known as the ‘somatogravic illusion’ and can cause spatial disorientation,” reads the preliminary report.
Brickhouse explained: “If you have a clear sky and good visibility, you can see what you need to see.
“But alas, if you’re in the clouds, sometimes physiologically, your brain gets a little confused based on your inner ear.”
“We have seen it in accidents,” he added, “where pilots end up in such conditions and experience their problems.”
The weather:
The weather on the day of the crash was another fact that investigators carried out – with evidence compiled in a 394-page meteorological report.
The report says videos and photos show fog and low clouds obscuring the hilltops, adding that Zobayan has struggled with a ‘low cloud ceiling’.
Lawsuits by Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, and the families of the other victims argued that Zobayan should not have flown under the conditions.
Both the sheriff and the Los Angeles County Police Department grounded their fleet that day due to fog and low clouds.
The helicopter:
The fatal helicopter, meanwhile, had a strong safety record and even carried Bryant before – even after his last Lakers game in 2016.
“Nothing in the history of this model draws my attention as negative,” Brickhouse said.
However, the helicopter does not have a ‘black box’, or flight recorder, nor does it have TAWS, a terrain awareness system that warns pilots when they fly too close to the ground.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, it is needed in medical helicopters, but not in commercial helicopters such as those used by Bryant.
At the hearing on February 9, the NTSB will also make recommendations to try to prevent a similar event from taking place in the future, ‘Brickhouse said.
“I’m curious about what the probable cause will be, what the contributing factors will be and what will happen to the recommendations.”