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A helicopter pilot’s “spatial disorientation” played a key role in the crash that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and several friends last year, federal officials said on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Lakers icon, 41, Gianna Bryant, 13, and seven others died on a cloudy morning on January 26 near the Southern California coast when their Sikorsky S-76B helicopter crashed into a hill in Calabasas, stunning sports and basketball worlds.
The crash also killed 13-year-old Payton Chester; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and Ara Zobayan, 50.
Zobayan was the chief pilot of Island Express Helicopters and had 8,500 hours of flight experience and about 10 years of flying experience in the area where the craft crashed, the National Transportation Safety Board said during ‘a hearing describing the probable cause of the accident.
The pilot likely had an episode of “spatial disorientation,” which NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt described as “the powerful and deceptive sensations that can confuse a pilot on visual flight who loses visual references, and what types training can be effective in countering this effect. “
“We have seen this accident before, unfortunately,” said board member Michael Graham. “The helicopters continue VFR (visual flight rules) flight in weather conditions and unfortunately lose control of the aircraft due to spatial disorientation.”
The former owner of the Sikorsky S-76B regularly operated it with two pilots, the president said.
Although there was no mandate for Island Express Helicopters to use two pilots, Sumwalt insisted that two pairs of trained eyes could have made a difference.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Sumwalt even resisted his own investigator who downplayed the suggestion of two pilots, saying he had seen many “spatial disorientation” accidents that had a pair of airmen at the controls. .
“I don’t agree with that,” said Sumwalt, who had been a long-time US Airways pilot before joining the NTSB.
“I think two pilots would increase the level of safety. I have flown with two pilots for a long time and in an air environment you get the redundancy that if one pilot has difficulty the other pilot could sit down and say: ‘Wait a minute, you tilt 30 degrees to the left and start a descent. “
As Zobayan encountered the marine layer that morning, the pilot appeared to go against federal guidelines by flying in the fog, the NTSB said.
The pilot should have avoided “adverse weather conditions” and “diverted, returned to base or landed the helicopter,” Graham said.
“And unfortunately the pilot didn’t do that,” Graham added.
A lawyer for Island Express Helicopters could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Zobayan is also believed to have put himself “under self-induced pressure” to complete the trip because he had a long-standing relationship with Bryant.
Investigators said there was no evidence Bryant or anyone else in the travel party pressured Zobayan this Sunday morning to complete the trip quickly.
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