The pilot of the helicopter that crashed last year, killing former basketball all-star Kobe Bryant and eight others, was likely spatially disoriented after flying into clouds, according to NTSB investigators, who presented their findings today in a public hearing. The presentation seemed to reveal the likely findings of probable cause for the crash of the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, operated by Island Express Helicopters, that slammed into rising terrain in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020. The meeting also gave some insight into the NTSB’s suggestions for changes to regulations that cover helicopter flight, especially charter flights.
Every indication was that the pilot was aware of his position relative to the terrain, but had some limited visual contact with the ground. The track and speed of the helicopter during the accident sequence suggest spatial disorientation, which investigators said started earlier than many observers previously believed. Minutes before the crash, the helicopter started a bank to the left at the same time as it began a climb, which the pilot reported to ATC.
NTSB investigators said that this left bank was likely initiated by the pilot in order to follow Highway 101 below, which makes a turn to the left at that point. They said that the left bank at some point would have begun to feel like straight and level flight to the pilot, who continued that steepening turn throughout the remainder of the flight. The pilot also failed, they pointed out, to reduce the helicopter’s airspeed. It continued cruising at around 140 knots, which is counter to generally accepted safety practices when encountering accidental instrument conditions.
While the company’s Safety Management System (SMS) plan called for the pilot to begin a controlled climb straight ahead at the point that he encountered clouds, he did not do that. Instead, he initiated a climb while turning left, probably because of spatial disorientation. The aircraft continued in a left bank that tightened when the helicopter began descending at an increasing rate of airspeed before impacting rising terrain not on the intended course of flight. The Sikorsky was being hand-flown and not following the commands of an autopilot, a finding that also supported the prevailing theory that the pilot of the helicopter lost control of the aircraft because he was spatially disoriented.
There was also extensive discussion of the weather and the aeronautical decision making of the pilot. Investigators said that evidence did not suggest that the pilot should have made the decision not to take off from Orange County (SNA) in Santa Ana, California, but that given the weather conditions he encountered, he should have diverted to an alternate airport. But, they said, he appeared not to have any alternate airports in mind or an alternate plan of action once he ran into the lowering cloud deck in the San Fernando Valley. They also suggested that the pilot was probably seeing intermittent visuals of the ground as he initiated his climb, which might have prevented him from committing fully to the instruments—the only way to prevent loss of control when an aircraft is being hand flown in instrument conditions.
