The helicopter company that owned the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter that Kobe Bryant used Sunday morning was not federally certified in the difficult weather conditions over Los Angeles Sunday morning. The helicopter crashed into a hillside, killing the Los Angeles Lakers legend, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant and seven others. Bryant was 41 years old.
Sources told The New York Times Thursday that Island Express Helicopters, which owned the helicopter, did have Federal Aviation Administration operating certification that limited its pilots to fly under visual flight rules (VFR), with a cloud ceiling no lover than 1,000 feet abive ground and three miles of visibility. Although pilot Ara Zobayan was certified to fly with instruments, Island Express itself did not.
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Kurt Deets, a former Island Express pilot who flew Bryant for two years, first told Forbes about the company’s certification. The company has not commented.
This is not unusual, as most charter operators in Southern California do not go to the trouble of getting certified for instrument flight. Usually it is easy to fly over Los Angeles thanks to freeways and sunny weather, the Times reports.
Zobayan took off from John Wayne Airport in Orange County just after 9 a.m. Sunday on what was already a foggy day. He turned south, where visibility was four miles, which was within visual flight conditions. As the helicopter headed north, visibility worsened down to two and a half miles.
When they reached Burbank, far from their final destination, Zobayan asked traffic controllers to flight under special visual flight rules so he could fly visually at visibility under three miles if he could keep the aircraft clear of clouds. The pilot cleared Van Nuys and turned southwest towards Calabasas. At that point, he said the visibility was better, but it apparently got worse.
Just before the crash, Zobayan told air traffic control he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer as he reached the hills near Calabasas. Witnesses said they saw the helicopter flying through clouds and fog before the crash.
The NTSB is still investigating the cause of the crash, including mechanical failure.
“We take a broad look at everything in an investigation — man, machine and the environment,” Jennifer Homendy, an NTSB board member, said Monday, reports the Times. “And weather is just a small portion of that.”
On Monday, Island Express noted that Zobayan had over 8,000 flight hours and 10 years of experience was the company. He was their chief pilot. The company also suspected all services on Thursday.
“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 company said.
There were no survivors in the crash. Aside from Bryant, Gianna and Zobayan, the other victims were John Altobelli, Keri Altobell, Alyssa Altobelli, Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and Payton Chester. The group was headed to the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks for a basketball tournament.
Photo credit: Getty Images
