Investigators: Pilot in Kobe Bryant crash appeared to violate flight standards, likely became disoriented in clouds

The pilot of Kobe Bryant's helicopter that crashed last year appeared to violate flight standards by flying through clouds and likely became disoriented just before the crash, killing the basketball legend, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others, safety investigators said Tuesday.

Pilot Ara Zobayan, 50, who was killed in the crash, was ``flying under visual flight orders, or VFR, which legally prohibited him from penetrating the clouds" but he continued into clouds, said Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) during a public hearing in Washington to specify the likely cause or causes of the crash.

Zobayan likely had an episode "of spatial disorientation," which Sumwalt described as "the powerful, misleading sensations that can confuse a pilot conducting a visual flight who loses visual references, and what types of training can be effective in countering this effect".

"We have seen this accident before, unfortunately," board member Michael Graham said. "Helicopters continue the VFR (visual flight rules) flight into meteorological conditions and unfortunately lose control of the aircraft due to spatial disorientation."

Zobayan's actions have been a focus of the investigation into the crash on Jan 26 of the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter outside Los Angeles into hilly terrain. He was the chief pilot for Island Express Helicopters and had 8,500 hours of flight experience and had about 10 years' experience of flying in the area where the craft crashed, the NTSB said during the hearing.

Zobayan piloted the aircraft to climb sharply and had nearly broken through the clouds when the helicopter banked abruptly and plunged into the Southern California hills, killing the 41-year-old Los Angeles Lakers icon, his daughter Giannaand six other passengers -- Payton Chester, 13, Sarah Chester, 45, Alyssa Altobelli, 14, Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56,  and Christina Mauser, 38.

They were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County when the helicopter encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.

Bryant's widow has blamed the pilot. She and relatives of the other victims also have faulted the company that owned and operated the helicopter.

The helicopter company has said that foggy weather before the helicopter hit the ground was an act of God and blamed air traffic controllers.

Agencies contributed to this article.