The company operating the helicopter that crashed and killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others has sued two air traffic controllers over their deaths.
Island Express Helicopters argues that the deadly January crash was caused by the controllers’ “series of erroneous acts and/or omissions,” according to a cross-complaint the company filed last Tuesday in Los Angeles County court.
“Had [the controllers] not engaged in the numerous negligent acts and/or omissions stated herein, then [Pilot Ara Zobayan] would not have been forced to respond to multiple [air traffic control] requests and commands during the most critical phase of the flight,” the court paper says.
The pair are federal air traffic controllers working to oversee flights in the Southern California region, which includes the Calabasas area where the chopper was downed.
The Post is withholding the names of the controllers at the request of the FAA, which cited concerns for their safety.
Island express alleges that one of the controllers “failed to brief” the second, who replaced him on his shift, of the existence of the aircraft. That oversight led to lost time and unnecessary distractions in the final minutes of flight, the company argued.
“These errors were compounded by [the controller] monopolizing the Pilot’s attention during the critical phase of the flight by making multiple radio calls, requiring transponder ident, and requesting the Pilot to state where he was and what his intentions were,” the complaint said.
“The combination of increased stress, workload, and distraction significantly impacted the Pilot’s ability to fly the aircraft.”
Months after the death of the Lakers legend shocked the world, the exact cause of the crash is still unclear. The helicopter was not carrying a flight data recorder or other instruments that would have revealed clues of any in-flight issues.
A federal investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board is ongoing and no probable causes have been identified.
Zobayan crashed his copter, the Sikorsky S-76B, into a Calabasas hillside on a foggy morning as he was transporting Kobe, Gianna, several of her teammates and others.
He had asked for and received special clearance to fly in the heavy fog before the copter went down, according to the NTSB’s preliminary findings.
Zobayan contacted air traffic controllers for radar guidance called “flight following,” but the controller told him he was flying too low to be in radar range, according to the NTSB.
Kobe Bryant and his daughter GiannaAP“This denial was improper because radar contact had not been lost and services were being denied based on the possibility that they might be lost at some point in the future,” Island Express said in its cross-complaint.
In his final radio message, Zobayan told air traffic controllers that he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer. But when Air Traffic Control asked what Zobayan planned to do, he offered no response, according to the NTSB.
Radar data indicated the helicopter climbed to 2,300 feet — but then began a left descending turn.
The NTSB has stated that Zobayan may have been disoriented by the fog.
Island Express is defending itself in several wrongful death lawsuits that have been filed in the wake of the crash, including a suit from Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow.
The company said that — in addition to faulty communication among the controllers — one of the controllers failed “to properly terminate radar services,” misleading Zobayan as he veered toward the hillside.
“Zobayan thought he was still receiving radar services at the time of the accident,” according to the cross-complaint, meaning he was operating under the “assumption that [Air Traffic Control] was monitoring his flight and would have warned him of unsafe proximity to terrain.”
The FAA declined to comment on pending litigation.
