Kobe Bryant Did Not Pressure Helicopter Pilot to Fly in Dangerous Conditions, Investigators Say

It's been over a year since Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles, and investigators are now releasing their information on the accident - including probable cause. According to TMZ, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the Los Angeles Lakers star did not pressure the helicopter pilot to fly into dangerous conditions and that the pilot likely experienced a condition called spatial disorientation while flying the chopper.

"There was no evidence that Island Express, the air charter broker or the client [Kobe Bryant] placed pressure on the pilot to accept the charter flight request or complete the flight and adverse weather," investigators stated. NTSB investigators said it appears that the pilot experienced spatial disorientation, which made him think the helicopter was climbing when it was actually descending. During the virtual meeting, one executive seemed to blame the pilot, saying he should have recognized the danger the weather presented that day and landed at a nearby airport.

Vanity Fair recently detailed the events leading up to the crash. At 9:44 a.m. local time, the helicopter was climbing to 4,000 feet to avoid cloud layer, the pilot, Ara Zobayan, told air traffic controllers at the time. However, the aircraft climbed slightly before veering left and decreasing rapidly. NTSB Specialist Marie Moler wrote (as reported by the Washington Post): "Without outside references or attention to the helicopter's attitude display, the actual pitch and bank angles have the potential to be misperceived."

The crash occurred at 9:45 a.m. and TMZ broke the news of the crash two hours later. Anthony Brickhouse, a former NTSB investigator, told the New York Post: "I haven't seen anything to suggest something mechanical went wrong with the helicopter. "So what you do is your focus on the human element and the environmental element. You piece that puzzle back together. You crunch that information."

Bryant's widow, Vanessa, filed lawsuits against Zobayan's estate and the helicopter company, Island Express Helicopters. One expert said the crash was "totally avoidable" and asked why did it happen? "They're in the fog, and you're down hugging the ground trying to fly up the highway and barely able to see it," Robert Ditchey, a longtime airplane pilot, aeronautical engineer and former airline executive, said to USA Today shortly after the crash. "He's down only 100 feet or so above the ground. In that area of the San Fernando Valley you have mountains on either side of you … and the clouds have obscured them, and you don't have that much room to maneuver."