Print
Why did the helicopter carrying Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others crash into a fog-covered hillside in Calabasas a year ago, killing all on board?
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday will make a probable cause finding and give recommendations to those who regulate the sky to avoid a repeat of the Jan. 26, 2020, crash. The deadly crash not only unleashed a tidal wave of grief but a plethora of lawsuits and congressional efforts to legislate for better helicopter safety.
In the year since, Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow and Gianna’s mother, and other passengers’ families have in court accused pilot Ara Zobayan and Island Express of flying in dangerous weather conditions. The helicopter operator has in turn pointed the finger at the air traffic controllers and at the weather as an act of God.
One year after Kobe Bryant helicopter crash, recommended improvements have gone nowhere [Los Angeles Times :: BC-CALIF-HELICOPTER-CRASH:LA]
LOS ANGELES – The helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people on a foggy morning a year ago on a hillside in Calabasas placed a new and urgent focus on what many had long considered significant flaws in federal aviation regulation.
Such large turbine helicopters are not required to have a terrain awareness warning system, known as TAWS, to alert a pilot if they were about to fly into rising topography. Nor must they have flight data or cockpit voice recorders.
Print
The helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people on a foggy morning a year ago on a hillside in Calabasas placed a new and urgent focus on what many had long considered significant flaws in federal aviation regulation.
Such large turbine helicopters are not required to have a terrain awareness warning system, known as TAWS, to alert a pilot if they are about to fly into rising topography. Nor must they have flight data or cockpit voice recorders.
There were immediate calls to close the loopholes and require those systems. Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, advocated for the changes. In its immediate comment after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said a terrain warning system on the helicopter could have helped the pilot.
2:56 pm UTC Jan. 25, 2021
USA TODAY Sports is marking the first anniversary of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others with a six-day series of stories, photos and videos looking back at the Lakers legend and the aftermath of his death.
When the helicopter careened into a California hillside on the morning of Jan. 26, 2020, killing Kobe Bryant and the eight others on board, the initial response around the world was shock.
Then, it was: How?
How did this seemingly routine trip to a youth basketball game end in tragedy? How did the helicopter that Bryant used for years suddenly crash?