NTSB Criticises FAA In Wake Of Kobe Bryant Accident

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At the final press conference briefing on the Kobe Bryant fatal helicopter crash in February, the NTSB’s Jennifer Homendy reminded reporters that the FAA had failed to act on two safety recommendations issued by the Board. Those would have required Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS) and both flight data (FDR) and cockpit voice (CVR) recorders for aircraft above a certain size. Those recommendations were made in 2004 and 2005, but Homendy said the NTSB closed them as unacceptable after the FAA failed to act. TAWS is mandatory for air ambulance flights.

After the initial on-site investigation, the NTSB turned the crash site over to local law enforcement and safety agencies, but it continues its inquiry into the 26 January Sikorsky S-76B crash that killed former Los Angeles Lakers star Bryant, his daughter and seven others. The weather at the time was marginal VFR and the terrain at the crash site had been obscured in low visibility.

Investigators say they don’t know what terrain data pilot Ara Zobayan had available, but they confirmed that the aircraft was not equipped with TAWS. Zobayan did have an iPad with ForeFlight and although an iPad was recovered, it’s not known if it was his. The iPad and a recovered cellphone have been sent to the NTSB’s lab for examination.

While TAWS came up as a discussion point, the NTSB’s investigator in charge, Bill English, said no assumptions are being made about equipment. “We don’t have a conclusion that TAWS and this scenario are related to each other” he told reporters during the press conference.

Investigators say the pilot appeared to be trying to climb, either out of the weather or away from terrain. But the aircraft eventually crashed at high speed in a left descending turn.