[L.A.Justice]

An NTSB official described the spatial disorientation Zobayan likely experienced in the clouds the moments before taking a left into a Calabasas hillside in the Santa Monica mountains. Notably, Zobayan was not authorized to fly in heavy clouds.

The NTSB said Zobayan experienced an illusion called "The Leans," which gives a pilot the perception of flying straight and level when actually in a turn.

Investigators focused heavily on the moments of the flight that occured after Zobayan entered the Van Nuys airspace and said his actions "were not consistent with his training." Zobayan was an experienced pilot who logged 8,577 hours of flying. He was also up-to-date on his certifications and was qualified to fly under Visual Flight Rules (VFR)

I guess the pilot really screwed up...

[Yorlik803]

That happened to JFK Jr. Lost orientation and flew into the sea.

[SuperLuminal]

No Allahu aching back recording?

[QBFimi]

Almost a year of his life airborne? Flight instructor? And this happens? Yeah, OK...

[lee martell]

Is “Merry Widow” Vanessa still looking for more $ payouts?
Sometimes planes do crash, especially under those weather conditions.

[StAnDeliver]

"I guess the pilot really screwed up... "

Because Kobe was halfway up his VFR-only pipe and Zobayan refused to let the autopilot handle the climb.

[1Old Pro]

There were opportunities along the way to have reversed the course and prevented this crash by simply landing

Yep, pushed it too far into fog and clouds an made a boneheaded rookie mistake.

[rellic]

I was an Avionics Technician in the USAF.
They have these cute little things in your instrument panel.
The guy had to be looking at them. When they are working they do NOT lie. Altitude, attitude, direction, engine info, and other things you need to operate when you can’t see or know if you are upside down or not, or in a slow turn.
Hard to believe a guy with lots of stick time didn’t look at his instruments when he was flying blind.

[TalBlack]

Spatial disorientation, I know the feeling flying IFR. Without instruments flying is impossible. I figured that hillside came out of nowhere for that pilot.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

"There were opportunities along the way to have reversed the course and prevented this crash by simply landing," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said.

But the client was a multi-millionaire who had hired the pilot for countless flights. The pilot probably hated the thought of disappointing Bryant, his young daughter and several of her young friends, all of whom he was ferrying to a girl's basketball game which Bryant was coaching and the girls were playing in.

A real shame - it was pretty shocking to me, since I'd been watching an in-depth Kobe interview with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson the night before.

[Red Badger]

He flew into a hillside in the fog. Why can’t they just say that?.................

[Bobalu]

It's scary how easily you can lose orientation in an aircraft.

A person thinks that it would be unlikely they could become confused about whether they are flying level, climbing or descending..or turning.. but when the visibility is poor or nonexistent and then add in rain that is coming in sideways, or snow..and your brain simply fails at orientation.

That's why the instrumentation exists....in adverse conditions you must trust the instruments.

I like glass cockpits but it is still wise to have the basic instruments backed up by a few old-fashioned analog instruments...just in case.

This is a sweet glass panel but the old-fashioned instruments you see are still a must IMO.

[HangnJudge]

“Get There itis” is lethal in aviation

[know.your.why]

8,577 hours??? How is it even possible for any pilot anywhere to even log 1500 hours not and get IFR rated??? Its not that big of a deal. This pilot had his PPL-SEL (Private Pilot License - Single Engine Land), Commercial License, Multi-Engine license, and Rotorwing License. The article didnt mention those but...comeon folks...8,577 hours is a LOT of flight time. Were they able to do tox test on the pilot?

[outofsalt]

Biden has spatial disorientation all the time. Just sayin’.

[A strike]

Barring Flight Data Recorder data that indicates a late unusual attitude, the NTSB cannot possbly know whether or not the pilot experienced spatial disorientation.
It is more likely that he totally lost terrain awareness.

[Falconspeed]

Give it up. The pilot is innocent and deserves prayers and pity, since he was pressured to fly by stupid Kobe. The storm that crashed the helicopter was intense. No helicopter belongs in storms like that.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Cen-Tejas]

The name Zobayan is Armenian and Kobe’s pilot was one of only 22 people in the US at that time with the name. Armenia is a small country just east of Turkey.

[Paal Gulli]

That is the most speculative and least fact-based crash investigation report I have ever seen.

If you can’t ascertain a cause but the pilot was killed, just blame him. It gets you off the hook and he can’t argue about it.