Text messages from a group sent between everyone on the flight revealed that the flight that killed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and eight others flew into bad weather conditions and the pilot felt disoriented from the fog, according to CNN.
Things to know:
- Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, died on Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash.
- The crash happened as the group on board traveled to a youth basketball game amid foggy conditions in January.
- The National Transportation Safety Board revealed Wednesday that weather and visibility were key issues in the crash.
What happened on the flight:
- New documents — not the final report on the case but merely focused on details — revealed that there was a group text created among people on board, a customary move to keep everyone in communication during the flight, according to CNN.
- Records showed the pilot, Ara Zobayan, felt concerned about the fog. He expressed worry about the conditions and said he was climbing out of the thickness of the fog, according to CNN.
- Controllers asked for his intentions. He never responded.
- The documents said: “Calculated apparent angles at this time show that the pilot could have misperceived both pitch and roll angles.”
More details revealed
- In May 2020, the pilot’s brother filed court papers that said “any injuries or damages to plaintiffs and/or their decedent was directly caused in full or in part by the negligence or fault of plaintiffs and/or their decedent,” which I reported on for the Deseret News.
- “And that this negligence was a substantial factor in causing their purported damages, for which this answering defendant bears no responsibility,” the response said, according to CNN.