(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
More terrible news out of the Kobe death situation. The pilot flying Kobe, his daughter Gigi and 7 others was completely turned around, due to the clouds and fog, at the time of the crash.
Ara Zobayan radioed to air traffic controllers that he was climbing to 4,000 feet to get above clouds on January 26 when, in fact, the helicopter was plunging toward a hillside where it crashed northwest of Los Angeles.
The 1,700 pages of reports do not offer a conclusion of what caused the crash but compile factual reports. A final report on the cause is due later. Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six of their friends were killed, along with Zobayan.
The report by the National Transportation Safety Board said Zobayan may have ‘misperceived’ the pitch of the aircraft, which can happen when a pilot becomes disoriented in low visibility.
It also shows Zobayan had told the person arranging the flight that the weather ‘should be OK’ on the morning of the crash. The broker had said conditions ‘could be an issue’.
Experts said shortly after the crash that the path of the flight indicated Zobayan was disoriented.