Island Express Helicopters — the company that owned the aircraft that Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other passengers were on when it crashed in Calabasas, California, on Sunday — has temporarily suspended its operations. A statement on the company’s website revealed that all services were immediately suspended following the crash.
“The shock of the accident affected all staff, and management decided that service would be suspended until such time as it was deemed appropriate for staff and customers,” the statement reads. A representative told PEOPLE that that the company suspended flight services for Thursday and Friday.
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The Long Beach-based company charters flights as well as transportation services to and from Catalina Island.
On Monday, Island Express Helicopters made an initial statement following the crash. “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. Our top priority is providing assistance to the families of the passengers and the pilot. We hope that you will respect their privacy at this extremely difficult time,” the statement said. “The pilot, Ara Zobayan, was our chief pilot. Ara has been with the company for over 10 years and has over 8,000 flight hours.”
Bryant 41, and Gianna, 13, were reportedly on their way to a youth basketball game in Thousand Oaks with parents and players from the Mamba Sports Academy girls team when the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter crashed into a hill. The two died alongside pilot Ara Zobayan, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, John Altobelli, his wife Keri Altobelli and their daughter, Alyssa Altobelli.
On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said the helicopter could have potentially avoided the hill had it been flying 20 to 30 feet higher. However, NTSB investigators also said that there were still surrounding hills that would have required an even higher altitude for clearance.
Extremely foggy conditions likely complicated the trip for Zobayan. Investigators said the chopper was not equipped with a terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS), a cockpit voice recorder (CVR), flight data recorders (FDR) or black boxes — tools they believe could have helped the pilot during the flight.
The crash was officially ruled an accident by the LA county coroner, although investigators are still looking into what exactly caused the helicopter to plummet over 2,000 feet per minute.
Zobayan was flying under “Special Visual Flight Rules,” which allows him to fly in severe weather conditions, when the chopper ran into weather issues while it flew only 875 feet in the air above the Los Angeles Zoo. The veteran pilot contacted Burbank Airport’s control at 9:30 a.m. PT, then moved along the 118 freeway before turning west to follow the 101 freeway. Zobayan then flew into heavy fog and climbed up to 2,000 feet to try to avoid the cloud cover. Shortly after that, the helicopter crashed into the mountains at 1,700 feet.
