Kobe Bryant helicopter pilot had ‘spatial disorientation’ before crash: NTSB

Kobe Bryant’s fatal helicopter crash was likely caused by the pilot’s decision to fly through thick clouds in violation of federal regulations, leading him to become disoriented, safety regulators announced Tuesday.

Just before the Jan. 26 2020 crash in Calabasas, California that killed the Lakers star and eight others, pilot Ara Zobayan climbed to 4,000 feet in a tightening left turn and then descended rapidly in a left turn — a maneuver consistent with “spatial disorientation” in limited visibility, they said at a meeting of the board to present results of its investigation into the tragedy.

Zobayan had told air traffic control he was climbing and about to break through the clouds — but he was actually beginning to descend at increasing magnitude, the NTSB concluded.

“The pilot doesn’t know which way is up,” investigator-in-charge Bill English said of the phenomenon, also known as a “somatogravic illusion.”

While investigators did not find any evidence that Bryant or anyone else put pressure on Zobayan to complete the flight, an NTSB official said the pilot may have placed pressure “on himself” because he “did not want to disappoint” the five-time NBA champion.

“The pilot took pride in these positions with both the client and Island Express. They had a good relationship with the client and likely did not want to disappoint them by not completing the flight. This kind of self-induced pressure can adversely affect a pilot’s decision making and judgment,” NTSB human performance investigator Dr. Dujuan Sevillian said.

“However, there was no evidence that Island Express, the air charter broker for the client, placed pressure on the pilot to accept the charge flight request or complete the flight in adverse weather.”

The 41-year-old hoops legend, his daughter, Gianna, 13, and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tourney at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County on Jan. 26, 2020, when the chopper encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of LA.

Zobayan did not have an alternative flight plan and chose not to land to wait out the bad weather — even though Federal Aviation Administration standards require pilots to be able to see where they are going and there was an airport nearby, investigators said.

He then climbed sharply and had nearly broken through the clouds when the high-end Sikorsky S-76 chopper banked suddenly, before plummeting into the Calabasas hills and bursting into flames.

“There were opportunities along the way to have reversed the course and prevented this crash by simply landing,” NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters after the meeting.

“He could have flown up and been in the clear blue Southern California sky and the marine layer would have been below him,” Sumwalt added.

The board said previously that an examination of the helicopter’s engines and rotors found no evidence of “catastrophic mechanical failure.”

While air controllers failed to alert Zobayan when they lost radar contact with the chopper, that mistake “did not contribute to the accident or accident survivability,” according to the NTSB’s findings. 

The chopper did not have so-called “black box” recording devices, which were not required, leaving investigators without evidence from inside the craft of the moments before the crash.

Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, has blamed the pilot. She and the relatives of other victims also faulted the companies that owned and operated the helicopter.

The companies have argued that the weather was an act of God and blamed air-traffic controllers for the tragedy.

Vanessa Bryant and other families of victims have filed lawsuits against the companies that owned and operated the vehicle. But NTSB findings are not directly admissible in court, legal experts told the Post.

On Tuesday, the NTSB cited Island Express, the company that owned the helicopter, for “inadequate review and oversight of its safety management process” — but investigators said there was no indication the company was “uniquely unsafe or a problem operator” and noted it had previously grounded flights due to inclement weather.

Investigators previously revealed that the chopper lacked a Terrain Awareness and Warning System, or TAWS – which was not mandatory – that could have warned the pilot he was too close to the ground.

However, the NTSB said Tuesday that the TAWS “would not have made a difference” in the case of Bryant’s helicopter crash. The hilly terrain, combined with the pilot’s spatial disorientation in the clouds, would have been “a confusing factor,” officials said.

“Bad things can happen to good organizations,” Sumwalt said. “The pilot did make mistakes, but that does not mean he was necessarily trying to do anything malicious. I certainly don’t think he was out trying to kill himself and kill his passengers.”

The NTSB has nevertheless recommended TAWS as mandatory for helicopters. The devices cost upward of $35,000 per helicopter and require training and maintenance.

Federal lawmakers have also proposed the Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act, which would mandate the system on all choppers carrying six or more passengers.

On Tuesday, the board re-upped its push for TAWS, and also recommended that the FAA convene a panel on spatial disorientation and require that pilot training simulations address decision-making around adverse weather.

The board can only submit suggestions to bodies like the FAA or the Coast Guard, which have repeatedly rejected some of the board’s safety recommendations after other disasters.

The others killed were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.

With Post wires