3 years ago, Kobe Bryant along with his daughter Gianna tragically passed away with 9 others, including the pilot Ara Zobayan. It is an accident that shocked the entire NBA world, after learning about Los Angeles Lakers legend was no more. On that fateful day, Ara Zobayan, was Kobe’s go-to pilot, after Kurt Deetz left the company. Ara and the other passenger boarded a Sikorsky S-76B that day as they left for Venture county.
Zobayan was 50 years old at the time of the crash. He hailed from Huntington Beach in California, had a commercial license (Helicopter), and was a certified instructor. According to KTLA, as reported by Christina Pascucci, he was an instrument-rated pilot. For reference, Instrument rated pilot means, he could fly in less visibility conditions.
Friends have identified the pilot as
Ara Zobayan. He taught aspiring heli pilots to fly and was very much loved in the aviation community. They wrote “rest easy as you take your final flight to heaven.”@KTLA #KobeBryant pic.twitter.com/8pQh9eNJTk— Christina Pascucci (@PascucciNews) January 27, 2020
After almost 6 months after the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board released the documents. The documents contained shocking information, where Zobayan made a radio call. He reported that he was ascending, while it was spiraling to the ground. As per the final reports, Zobayan was flying under visual flight rules, which meant he needed to see where he was going.
This is an account of the final minutes of Kobe Bryant’s helicopter flight in January by an employee of the charter company. The NTSB released the details along with a slew of other material as part of its investigation into the crash.
‘Ara’ is pilot Ara Zobayan. pic.twitter.com/5fCrfy6nxR
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) June 17, 2020
It was reported that he piloted through some clouds, which likely disoriented him, and resulted in the crash. This could happen when to a pilot when they have been flying in low visibility. There was no sign of mechanical failure as stated by NTSB. Zobayan on a fateful day was disoriented which made him misperceive the instruments. This caused him to misperceive the pitch and roll angles.
Did Kobe Bryant fly with Ara Zobayan before his death?
Before Kobe Bryant started flying with Ara Zobayan, he had Kurt Deetz, who decided to leave the company. Kurt who worked for the Island Express flew Los Angeles Lakers‘ Kobe from 2014-2016, as stated by the company. After this Ara Zobayan, became the pilot for Kobe’s travel plans, he was known as the “chief pilot” at the Island Express and stayed with them for 10 years. He had experience as a flight instructor who had more than 8,000 hours of flight time.
Kobe and Gigi headed for a game that day at Mamba Sports Academy from Orange County. It is a route that Ara was quite familiar with and flew the Mamba on the route at least 10 times in 2019. However, on the fateful day of the crash, Ara decided to take a different route, as the normal route had low visibility.
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