A little over a year after the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and all seven others on board, the National Transportation Safety Board has convened to outline the likely cause of the devastating accident.
In a livestreamed hearing on Tuesday, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt cited pilot Ara Zobayan’s decision to fly through heavy cloud coverage and fog as a likely cause behind the incident. According to People, Sumwalt explained, “He was flying under visual flight rules (VFR), which legally prohibited him from penetrating clouds. However, he continued this VFR flight through the clouds, into instrument meteorological conditions.” On that particular day, visibility was so poor due to the fog that the Los Angeles Police Department and the county sheriff’s department had grounded their helicopters. According to the Daily Mail, the board also asserted that “There was no evidence that [private helicopter company] Island Express, the air-charter broker, or the client [Bryant] placed pressure on the pilot to accept the charter-flight request or complete the flight.”
According to Vanity Fair’s reporting, Zobayan had also failed to complete his flight risk analysis tool that day—an electronic checklist of 69 items that tallies up a number of points indicating the risk factor of the trip. If the score is higher than 45, the pilot can’t fly without first consulting management. However, as Island Express’s chief pilot, Zobayan skipped writing down his backup plan should he be unable to complete the flight due to the weather, “left critical risk factors unchecked,” submitted the checklist, and took off anyway.
Bryant was also one of the helicopter company’s most regular and reliable VIP clients, which is why the NTSB suggested that Zobayan may have felt “self-induced” pressure to get the basketball legend where he wanted to go despite the risk. NTSB investigator Dujuan Sevillian also explained, per the Daily Mail, “The objective evidence that we collected with Island Express was through interviews and with those interviews let us know that the relationships between the pilot and the client had turned into a friendship over the years.” In fact, Bryant trusted the pilot so much, the NBA star would often allow his children to fly with Zobayan without him being present, Sevillian added. The NTSB also said that Zobayan had told air traffic controllers that his helicopter was climbing up above the cloud coverage when, in fact, he was descending toward the hill where the helicopter ultimately crashed.
The NTSB is reportedly expected to release its full, official findings on the causes of the crash later Tuesday.
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