The pilot in the foggy-weather helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant was well-acquainted with the skies over Los Angeles and accustomed to flying celebrities.
50-year-old Ara Zobayan had spent thousands of hours ferrying passengers through one of the nation's busiest air spaces and training students how to fly a helicopter.
Friends and colleagues described him as skilled, cool and collected, the very qualities you want in a pilot.
His decision to proceed in deteriorating visibility, though, has experts and fellow pilots wondering if he flew beyond the boundaries of good judgment and whether pressure to get his superstar client where he wanted to go played a role in the crash.
Jerry Kidrick, a retired Army colonel who flew helicopters in Iraq and now teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, says there can be pressure to fly VIPs despite poor conditions, a situation he experienced when flying military brass in bad weather.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have said Zobayan asked for and received permission from air traffic controllers to proceed in the fog. In his last radio transmission before the helicopter went down, he reported that he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer.
Investigators have yet to establish the cause of the crash and have not faulted his decision to press on or explained why he chose to do so.
[Source: Stuff.co]
