What to expect from final NTSB report at 1-year anniversary mark for Kobe Bryant’s deadly helicopter crash

It’s been a year since the helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant tried to thread a needle of high hills and low clouds in Southern California and ultimately slammed into a rugged slope shrouded in fog.

The catastrophic crash killed the NBA legend, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, the pilot and six others in Calabasas.

After the initial shock of the tragedy gave way to grief and then a painstaking probe for answers, the final report on exactly what went wrong is due Feb. 9, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

According to already-released NTSB files and experts interviewed by the Daily News, the official cause of the deadly incident likely will be a combination of adverse weather and pilot error.

Pilot Ara Zobayan and his passengers left John Wayne Airport in Orange County shortly after 9 a.m. on Jan. 26, 2020, on their way to nearby Camarillo Airport for a youth basketball tournament.

It was an unusually foggy day by local standards, one that grounded other flights, but Zobayan had made the same trip with Bryant the day before, and he decided to forge ahead, following freeway lines and visual flight rules, meaning no instrumentation to help with poor visibility.

In this Jan. 26, 2020, file photo, firefighters work the scene of a helicopter crash where former NBA star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died in Calabasas, Calif. (Mark J. Terrill/)

When he hit a thick cloud layer in Calabasas, Zobayan tried to climb above it but then appeared to become disoriented. He made a “left descending turn” and careened into a hillside at high speed, the NTSB previously said.

One NTSB document suggested Zobayan may have experienced a phenomenon called “Somatogravic illusion,” also known as “elevator illusion,” where the inner ear mistakes acceleration for a rapid climb that needs correcting.

“If you remove your eyes from the equation and accelerate in a flat line, your brain interprets that as going up. When we fly into a cloud, and everything is white, all sorts of vestibular illusions take over,” Michael Mower, executive director of Southern Utah University’s aviation program, told The News.

“The bottom line is, once you take away vision, the brain starts to wander. It’s quick and very scary, and if you’re not 100% ready for it, the disorientation almost always ends in tragedy,” he said.

FILE - In this March 2, 2019, file photo, Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna watch the first half of an NCAA college basketball game between Connecticut and Houston in Storrs, Conn. (Jessica Hill/)

“My understanding is your brain – your internal sensory equipment – plays tricks on you. So that’s why you try everything you can to avoid that situation,” Chuck Street, executive director of the Los Angeles Area Helicopter Operators Association, told The News.

Street knew Zobayan personally and considered him an experienced, conscientious pilot.

“It appears he encountered a wall of fog, got disoriented, had a few seconds to make some critical decisions, and that combination of circumstances was overwhelming,” he said.

“I sincerely believe Ara was a good pilot. It was an accident — a tragic accident. When I talked to him, he always felt very, very responsible for the people who flew with him. He really liked Kobe and the family, and he felt a loyalty to them, and he wanted to come through for them,” Street said.

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2020, file photo, Vanessa Bryant speaks during a celebration of life for her husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna in Los Angeles. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/)

The NTSB, which previously reported no signs of engine failure in the ongoing investigation, also has noted the Sikorsky S-76B lacked both a black box and a terrain warning system known as TAWS.

In the aftermath of the crash, some lawmakers have pushed for the FAA to make black boxes and TAWS required equipment on helicopters carrying six or more passengers. Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, has voiced her support.

“I think the tragic death a year ago of Kobe and Gianna shows the need for better safety systems on helicopters. We were not able to pass this last year because Congress was focused on things related to COVID and the other crises we faced. But we hope to pass a bill this year,” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) told The News on Monday.

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2017 file photo, from left, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, wife Vanessa and daughter Natalia Diamante Bryant are seen before a Connecticut-UCLA NCAA women's basketball game in Los Angeles. (Reed Saxon/)

Sherman introduced the Kobe and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act last year and said he’s working with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to overcome “substantial opposition” from the helicopter industry to mandate crash-proof black boxes and TAWS for helicopters with six or more passenger seats.

“The industry says this is going to cost $65,000 per larger helicopter. I think that cost will come down,” he said. “The terrain awareness system might have saved these lives.”

Vanessa Bryant, meanwhile, shared in a recent Instagram post that she’s still struggling with crippling grief.

“Let me be real — grief is a messed up cluster of emotions. One day you’re in the moment laughing and the next day you don’t feel like being alive,” she wrote on Instagram on Jan. 15.

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2020, file photo, fans pay respect at a memorial for Kobe Bryant near Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/)

“I want to say this for people struggling with grief and heartbreaking loss,” she continued. “Find your reason to live. I know it’s hard. I look at my daughter and I try to push through that feeling for them.”

She’s now suing Island Express, the helicopter company that owned the doomed Sikorsky, as well as the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office, which she says allowed deputies to take graphic photos at the crash site for their own “personal gratification.”

Island Express and the sheriff’s office have denied any wrongdoing.

In a related personal matter, Vanessa’s mother filed a fraud lawsuit in Orange County claiming Kobe “promised” to take care of her for life, and that Vanessa is not making good on the alleged vow.

Vanessa has called the lawsuit “disgraceful and unimaginably hurtful.”