“Kobe Bryant died because pilot disregarded directives”: Lakers legend’s pilot violated federal standards during fatal flight, reports blame him for crash

U.S Safety Investigators probed Kobe Bryant’s helicopter’s crash records and blame the pilot for violating standards

It has been over a year since we lost sporting legend Kobe Bryant in a tragic helicopter crash. Kobe Bryant was taking his daughter Gianna Bryant to her basketball game, along with 7 other people, when the helicopter had a sudden crash. Out of the 9 passengers, including the pilot, there were no survivors.

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According to the initial reports, the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobayan, had no vision due to heavy fog. The pilot was an experienced one, who had flown Kobe on several occasions before. The helicopter company blamed the pilot back then for negligence.

Ara Zobayan violated Federal Standards and led to Kobe Bryant’s demise, reports say

According to the investigation conducted by U.S. Safety Investigators, the fault of the crash lies on the pilot and his negligence towards following safety protocols. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the pilot for not following the rule which states to not operate the chopper when there is insufficient visibility of surroundings.

Since the helicopter did not have a black box, the investigation is primarily made on assumption. It is assumed that the pilot made a series of poor decisions that led him to fly blindly into a wall of clouds. There he became so disoriented he thought he was climbing when the craft was plunging toward a Southern California hillside, federal safety officials said.

Kobe Bryant’s helicopter pilot pushed the limits of bad weather flying rules, and ultimately abandoned his training before last year’s crash, investigators say. https://t.co/cZQkySsmKK

— CNN (@CNN) February 9, 2021

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The NTSB also blamed the Island Express Helicopters Inc. for inadequate review and oversight of safety matters. The reports also conclude that there were no issues with the chopper’s hardware or software.