Death of Kobe Bryant: the pilot of the helicopter found responsible for the accident
Mural depicting American basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, both of whom died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020 on a hill in Calabasas, northeast of Los Angeles.
AP - Jae C. Hong
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A little more than a year after the death of Kobe Bryant and seven others in a helicopter crash, the conclusions of the investigation implicate the pilot of the device, who would have been put in difficulty by the weather .
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With our correspondent in New York,
Loubna Anaki
For investigators from the US Transportation Safety Board, there is no longer any doubt.
The
helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant
, his daughter and six others on January 26, 2020 was not the result of mechanical failure.
The pilot is the only one involved.
Ara Zobayan, however experienced, would have been disoriented by the thick fog in which he was flying.
“
The behavior we see, the turn, the rapid climb and the maneuvers he made do not correspond to the training received by the pilot for these situations
.
Robert Sumwalt, the president of the Safety Authority, specifies that the pilot thought he was climbing to get out of the fog while the aircraft was descending.
Proof that he had lost his sense of direction.
This is how the helicopter crashed on a hill in Calabasas, near Los Angeles.
American sport icon
The death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter had caused a shock wave in the world of American basketball, but also across the country.
The former Lakers basketball player had become an icon during his career.
Last month, to pay tribute to him, several events were organized despite the health restrictions linked to the coronavirus.
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To read also: Kobe Bryant in ten emblematic dates
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