Federal safety officials have completed their investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others on board after it crashed into a Southern California Hillside.
The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that pilot Ara Zobayan’s decision to fly into the clouds violated federal standards that required him to be able to see where he was going.
The board described it as a poor decision which caused him to become disorientated and plummet into the hillside killing nine people, including Zobayan himself and Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
Board members are reported to have said that pilots are warned in their training against flying into thick clouds which can cause them to become spatially disorientated in low visibility when they cannot tell up from down or discern which way an aircraft is banking.
Minutes before the crash, Zobayan told flight controllers he was climbing in the helicopter and had nearly broken through the clouds. But NTSB investigators reported that the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter was in fact banking and beginning to descend at increasing magnitude.
In a comprehensive report by Aljazeerea, it was also reported that Zobayan did not file a backup flight plan and chose not to land at a nearby local airport to wait out the bad weather.
The outcome of the hearing had been much anticipated following the tragedy that brought an outpouring of grief across the globe for the retired basketball star, his daughter and all those who perished so unnecessarily.
On that fateful day, father and daughter were together with six other passengers flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County when the helicopter hit thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.
