NTSB: Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash Likely Caused by Pilot's 'Spatial Disorientation'

National Transportation Safety Board officials last week pinned the blame for the January 2020 helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven other people on the helicopter’s pilot.

Ara Zobayan, the pilot, had 10 years of experience flying in the area. Before the Jan. 26 crash, the helicopter climbed severely before it banked and then slammed into a hillside near Calabasas in Southern California, according to Fox News.

The board ruled in a report that Zobayan’s mistakes began when he decided to fly under visual flight rules in cloudy conditions, meaning he needed to be able to see where he was going. The NTSB ruled that Zobayan’s “spatial disorientation” probably led to the helicopter going out of control, according to the report.

As a factor, the board further cited Zobayan’s “likely” self-induced pressure to get the 41-year-old former Lakers star, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and their guests from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament in Ventura County.

The NTSB also said Island Express, which owned the helicopter, was to blame for an inadequate review of safety management procedures.

But mostly the report focused on the pilot.

“As the helicopter climbed rapidly into the cloud layer and IMC while in a gradual left turn, the pilot’s associated loss of outside visual references made him susceptible to experiencing vestibular illusions (in which the vestibular system in the inner ear produces a false sense of helicopter attitude and trajectory) that can lead to spatial disorientation,” the NTSB ruled.