KOBE PILOT LOST CONTROL IN FOG Told he was flying ‘too low’
PALS IN DEATH CRASH
THE pilot of Kobe Bryant’s helicopter, which crashed killing all nine on board, had been given special clearance to fly in fog.
Air traffic controllers gave Ara Zobayan special visual flight rules to fly in weather so bad local police crafts were grounded.
Mr Zobayan asked air traffic controllers for constant monitoring and was informed that he was flying too low.
One told the pilot: “You’re still too low level for flight following at this time.”
Investigators are probing if Mr Zobayan, 50, was disorientated by poor visibility. It is believed the helicopter was too low to be seen on radar. It climbed to 2,125 feet, possibly trying to before suddenly descending.
At the time of impact it was travelling at about 184mph and banking to the south west. In the final 15 seconds the chopper descended 425ft.
LA police spokesman Josh Rubenstein said: “The weather situation did not meet our minimum standards for flying.”
Helicopter pilot Phillipe Lesourd said flight data indicated Mr Zobayan had probably seen cloud in front of him and tried to turn around at the last minute, clear fog, sending the chopper out of control. He added: “He was travelling at around 100 knots and it seems like he put himself in what we call a spatial disorientation – a loss of control.”
Retired Los Angeles Lakers star Bryant, 41, had been on his way from the family home in Orange County, California, to coach his 13-year-old daughter Gianna’s basketball game at an academy near LA.
The other victims were named as college baseball team coach John Altobelli, 56, his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa, who played on the same basketball team as Gianna.
Young player Payton Chester died with her mum Sarah and Christina Mauser, a girls’ basketball coach. Kobe’s wife Vanessa, 37, and three other daughters are being comforted by relatives.