Original subtitles

Breaking news, five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant

died in a helicopter Crash.

NARRATOR: A high-profile aviation accident

devastates Los Angeles.

I'm just at a loss for words right now.

NARRATOR: NTSB investigators quickly inspect the wreckage.

All the mechanical systems and electronic systems

appeared to be working fine.

NARRATOR: The data provides a detailed picture

of the entire flight.

So they get airborne just after 9:00.

And then, they get held up for 12 minutes.

MAN (RADIO): Echo X-ray,

hold outside Burbank airspace.

OK.

We'll hold outside Burbank.

Certainly, this added to the time of the flight.

He's bombing along here at about 140 knots.

NARRATOR: Investigators must consider the unthinkable.

Was he trying to make up for the lost time?

A lot of people wondered if Kobe being Kobe

might've put pressure on this pilot.

NARRATOR: But there's no evidence

to support that suspicion.

So what happened to this guy?

Mayday.

Mayday.

Hey, Rick.

So I'm gonna go straight north to Dodger Stadium,

around Burbank, and follow the 118 to get up and around

the weather down here.

What's the visibility of Burbank?

Broken clouds with five-mile visibility.

We're good to go.

NARRATOR: Ara Zobayan is a helicopter pilot with more

than 8,000 flying hours.

They'll be here in about 15 minutes.

I'll meet them here and help get them loaded.

Roger that.

NARRATOR: He's the chief pilot for Island Express,

a helicopter charter company based in California's Los

Angeles County.

BRENT SCHROTENBOER: Island Express

is a family-owned company that's been in Southern California

for a number of decades.

And they're known as a company that can

provide VIP helicopter service.

NARRATOR: Among their high-profile regular customers,

media star Kylie Jenner, LA Clippers superstar

Kawhi Leonard, and today's client

LA Lakers great Kobe Bryant.

BRENT SCHROTENBOER: Kobe Bryant was one of the best

basketball players of all time.

He is an iconic Los Angeles Laker.

He was drafted by the team in 1996 when he was 17 years old.

He became the heart and soul of the team for 20 years.

He won five world championships.

He went to the all-star game 18 times

and, really, just became a huge star in his own right

apart from the team, in that he was recognized

simply by his first name, Kobe.

How's everyone doing today?

NARRATOR: Ara Zobayan has flown Kobe

and his family dozens of times.

Well, let's get going.

BRENT SCHROTENBOER: Kobe and the pilot of this helicopter

had really become friends, because he had piloted him

so many times around Southern California

that they developed a relationship.

NARRATOR: Kobe Bryant flies in a luxury Sikorsky S-76B.

It's configured to carry eight passengers.

The Sikorsky 76B is sort of like an air

limousine, in that it's quite common for VIP travel.

I think heads of state use it in different countries.

And it's also used as sort of an air

ambulance in some situations.

It's spacious and reliable.

It's really considered about as safe as they come.

NARRATOR: Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and six others

are headed to a basketball tournament near Camarillo,

80 miles away.

Kobe is the team's coach, Gianna the star player.

Today's 30-minute flight will take

the helicopter north past Burbank and then west

towards Camarillo.

Zobayan will follow two highways for guidance.

The 5, northwest, and the 101, west to Camarillo.

Hey, everyone.

It's about to get loud back there.

Copter 72 Echo X-ray, Island Express for east one departure.

MAN (RADIO): Helicopter 72 Echo X-ray, cleared for departure

from Island Express.

Have a good flight.

Good flight to Echo X-ray.

NARRATOR: Just after 9:00 AM, the helicopter

lifts off from Santa Ana.

The destination is Kobe Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy.

It's a regular journey for Zobayan.

He flew this same group there and back yesterday.

MALCOLM BRENNER: He was a very experienced pilot.

He was able to fly the helicopter at speed,

at low altitude, in a very dense airspace,

and deal with weather at the same time.

NARRATOR: Since his early days as a player,

Kobe Bryant has preferred helicopter

travel to the crowded freeways of Southern California.

He routinely uses helicopters for his personal

and professional travel.

Kobe loved to fly by helicopter,

just because he loved how much time it saved him.

NARRATOR: Kurt Deetz also flew for Island Express.

Flying in LA is like nowhere else.

There is a large congested--

congestion of multiple types of airspace in a small area.

So you're always in and out of airspace.

NARRATOR: Today's flight will first

need to pass through the controlled airspace surrounding

Burbank and then Van Nuys.

Burbank helicopter 72 Echo X-rays,

Sikorsky helicopter approaching the zoom

for a 101 westbound transition.

NARRATOR: Zobayan requests permission to pass

through Burbank's airspace.

It's a very busy airport.

And the controllers-- they know what they're doing.

Number 72 Echo X-ray, Burbank Tower.

Burbank Klaus Charlie is IFR.

Say intentions.

NARRATOR: Burbank is only accepting IFR flights

or Instrument Flight Rules, which

requires pilots to navigate solely on instruments.

Zobayan, however, is only authorized to fly using

Visual Flight Reference or VFR.

The threshold for visual flight is normally three miles.

The Burbank Airport was two-and-a-half miles.

NARRATOR: With insufficient visibility for VFR,

the controller denies his request.

But Zobayan's been flying helicopters

in Southern California long enough to know

a way around this restriction.

Asking for special VFR transition

to the 101 westbound.

The special VFR allows him to operate

at lower-than-standard visibilities,

down to 1-mile visibility.

And that's an agreement you have with the tower,

saying, I'm here.

I want to go there.

I'm requesting a special VFR.

NARRATOR: Special VFR allows Zobayan

to navigate visually through the area of low visibility.

November 2 Echo X-ray, hold outside Burbank airspace.

I have an aircraft going around in an inbound citation.

NARRATOR: The controller authorizes Zobayan

to cross into Burbank airspace.

But under the rules of special VFR,

he must now wait until the airspace is clear of traffic.

OK, we'll hold outside Burbank.

2 Echo X-ray.

Hey, everyone, we'll have to circle here for a few minutes

while we wait for a few planes to get out of our way.

Yeah, it shouldn't delay us too much.

Anytime you have a hold, it puts a great deal

of pressure on you as a pilot, because you're

going to be late.

NARRATOR: Finally, after holding for 12 minutes,

the Burbank airspace clears, and Zobayan

is allowed to pass through.

November 2 Echo X-ray, cleared through Burbank.

Maintain special VFR.

Copy that.

Will maintain special VFR.

Copter 2 Echo X-ray.

NARRATOR: From Burbank, the helicopter will follow the I-5

freeway Northwest and then the 118

around the top of Van Nuys airspace,

then south to follow the 101 to Camarillo.

Landmarks for flying aircraft in LA is really important.

NARRATOR: Kobe Bryant and the other passengers

are anticipated to arrive in Camarillo just

a few minutes behind schedule.

Van Nuys helicopter 2 Echo X-ray with you

for the special VFR transition.

CONTROLLER (ON RADIO): Helicopter 72

Echo X-ray, cleared into Van Nuys along the 118 freeway

westbound.

NARRATOR: The helicopter is cleared

to pass through the airspace near Van Nuys.

Zobayan now dials in the final controller for this journey,

the Southern California Radar Approach

Controller, who will handle the flight

until it reaches Camarillo.

SoCal helicopter 72 Echo X-ray with you at 570 to Camarillo.

Helicopter 72 Echo X-ray, SoCal approach.

Roger, are you just going to stay down that low

all the way to Camarillo?

NARRATOR: The helicopter is flying

570 feet above the ground.

Yes, sir, low altitude--

2 Echo X-ray.

NARRATOR: Zobayan needs to stay below the clouds, which

are around 1,000 feet above the ground.

Where he went was the lowest route available because

of the weather.

Roger.

I'm gonna lose radar with you shortly.

NARRATOR: But at the low altitude and hilly terrain,

controllers won't be able to maintain

radar contact with the flight.

The controllers would not see him on radar, he was so low.

Copy, that 2 Echo X-ray.

NARRATOR: Less than 10 minutes from his destination,

the visibility gets worse.

In the Los Angeles Basin area, it's

well known to get this marine layer of colder water

temperatures, warmer air, where you get these low clouds,

and you get lower visibilities.

NARRATOR: Zobayan radios in his intention

to climb above some low clouds.

We're going to go ahead and start our climb

to go above the layers.

2 Echo X-ray, where are you?

Just West of Van Nuys, 2 Echo X-ray.

2 Echo X-ray, ident?

NARRATOR: The controller hasn't been tracking the helicopter.

He needs Zobayan to flash his transponder signal,

so he can locate it on his screen.

You press a button on your transponder.

That flashes on their radar screen,

so they know where you are.

Ident.

2 Echo X-ray, say intentions.

We're climbing to 4,000, 2 Echo X-ray.

And what are you going to do when you reach altitude?

NARRATOR: In the hills near Calabasas,

witnesses see a helicopter emerge from the clouds

and hit the ground.

The team tracking Kobe Bryant's flight

realizes something's gone wrong.

The helicopter should have landed in Camarillo by now.

It has disappeared from their flight tracker.

We have some breaking news.

A helicopter crash in Southern California.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies

responding to reports of that crash

just before 10 AM Pacific time.

It's located in the Calabasas area.

NARRATOR: It doesn't take long before the media

is reporting the tragic news.

Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter,

along with seven other people have been

killed in a helicopter crash.

It's just one of those things where you can read the words.

And you kind of process them, but you don't really.

It's hard for it to sink in because you've got to think

about he's never coming back.

He was the guy.

He was my icon, my role model, who got me into the sport, who

got me playing.

I'm just at a loss for words right now.

You won't see another player like him again.

He will be missed.

MAN: There is this tremendous outpouring

of grief in Los Angeles.

People flocked to Staples Center,

left all kinds of different mementos.

And this is much bigger than basketball, I think,

just because I think Kobe was a real symbol, you know,

of just hard work and dedication.

MAN: Everybody was really just heartsick by what happened.

Love you, Kobe.

Love you, Gigi, and all the family.

We're here to conduct a safety investigation.

And our mission is not to just determine what happened

but why it happened and how it happened

to prevent a similar accident from ever happening again.

NARRATOR: The NTSB begins its investigation at the crash

site, looking for any clues to explain why a state-of-the-art

helicopter being flown by a highly

experienced pilot crashed 24 miles short of its destination.

The first thing you do at the crash site

is try to see that all the components

make it to the crash site.

Was there any kind of mechanical failures?

Did a rotor blade break or a tail rotor come off?

NARRATOR: The team uses a drone to scan the accident site

and study the shape of the debris.

Looking at this accident site, it's

very clear this was a relatively high rate of descent.

The helicopter hit, and the wreckage then bounced about 90

feet, where it came to a rest.

So there was a lot more vertical speed here than you

have in horizontal speed.

And all the parts of the helicopter

made it to the accident site.

NARRATOR: Investigators study flight control surfaces--

the engines and rotors, as well as the helicopter's

flight instruments.

Examination of those components found that there was

no evidence of any pre-impact failures--

that all the mechanical systems, electronic systems,

everything at that time appeared to be working fine.

NARRATOR: The NTSB's Bill English

has led investigations into some of the world's most

notorious aviation accidents.

We need to cover all our bases on this one.

Knowing that there was a high-profile person on board,

obviously NTSB responded with a major investigations team.

OK, he takes off at 907.

He flies northwest.

NARRATOR: To better understand what happened, investigators

piece together a detailed flight path from an ADSB system

that's on board the Sikorsky helicopter.

ADSB data is like transponder data.

Controllers can see, and it's recorded--

your airspeed, altitude, and headings-- other information.

And so you have this plotting capability.

Looked like there was some kind of hold here at Burbank.

And he follows the I-5 to Van Nuys,

and then south to the 101, which he

follows until he makes this U-turn

straight into a hillside.

You see this turn to the left, where he's coming

back around or doing something.

And that question is now in the investigation.

What's exactly the pilot doing here?

Let's take a look at the visibility.

NARRATOR: They study visibility reports from weather

stations along the route.

He did manage to avoid the worst of it here--

a bit socked in near Burbank and Van Nuys, but nothing

he can't get through.

So he had four miles of visibility.

When he got near Burbank Airport,

it was two and a half miles' visibility, but still

totally flyable for him.

In fact, by his operation specifications,

he could go down to one mile visibility.

OK, I get it if the visibility was down to zero.

But this wasn't that bad.

So what happened to this guy?

Why do we have a high-time pilot in an aircraft

that's capable of flight and visibility conditions he should

have been able to handle either lose

control or somehow inadvertently flies

helicopter into the ground?

That becomes the key piece of this investigation.

We need to figure out what he could actually see.

We have a request for the public.

We're looking for photos of the weather

in the area of the crash.

If you could send those photos to witness@ntsb.gov.

NARRATOR: Investigators make a plea to the public for evidence

regarding the Island Express helicopter

crash that took the lives of Kobe Bryant and eight others.

They're looking for clues to explain how

the pilot, Ara Zobayan, ended up hitting a hillside

on a route he knew well.

More than 8,300 flying hours, instructor on the S-76,

chief pilot at Island Express and apparently

Kobe's favorite pilot.

Bit of a superstar.

Yeah.

This pilot was not a rookie who just got his license.

He was one of LA's top helicopter pilots

working for one of its top companies

with some of its most high-profile clients.

NARRATOR: Records show that at 7 AM on the morning

of the flight, Zobayan checked the weather

for his pre-flight risk assessment

and determined that even though there were

low-hanging clouds blanketing the area,

the flight was low-risk.

A risk assessment is weather, anxiety, sleep--

all these factors that go into a flight.

But a low-lying cloud layer surrounding Los Angeles known

as a marine layer forced Zobayan to alter his regular,

more direct route.

Because of the weather, he flew more

inland than he normally does--

sort of a backdoor way in to where they were going.

Based on the forecast, his plan was OK.

Pretty good visibility all along the way.

So what went wrong?

NARRATOR: Investigators need to understand

the exact conditions Zobayan flew into the final moments

of the flight.

These are three separate cameras, all

facing south toward the 101.

Couldn't ask for a better view.

NARRATOR: The NTSB's plea for pictures of the weather

pays off.

A nearby baseball facility had surveillance cameras

pointed at key sections of the flight path

as the helicopter flew past.

Let's see what this one shows on a clear day.

NARRATOR: Investigators compare images from the same camera

taken on a clear day to images recorded

at the time of the accident.

Yeah, perfect.

OK, so one minute before the accident,

the helicopter would be bombing along here.

Can't see it.

How close did it get to the camera?

Best view of it would be here.

That's 4,400 feet.

NARRATOR: The helicopter is less than a mile from the camera

but isn't visible.

OK, so what about larger objects?

These hills, for instance--

visible on a clear day, but not at the time of the crash.

That hilltop is 8,000 feet away.

So visibility beneath the clouds

was less than 8,000 feet.

It's a mile and a half.

NARRATOR: The video study tells investigators

that around the time of the accident,

Zobayan would not have been able to see any further

than one and a half miles.

You're only allowed to fly in visibilities

one mile or greater.

A mile and a half--

pretty low, pretty-- pretty minimal.

NARRATOR: Investigators know Zobayan would have been

able to fly safely below the clouds

with one and a half-mile visibility.

So what if he was actually above the cloud base?

But he was only 450 feet above the ground.

NARRATOR: The cloud ceiling, the base of the cloud layer,

was reported to be 1,100 feet near Van Nuys.

But Zobayan was flying about 450 feet

above the ground, which would put him well below the clouds.

These are images from the camera on the 101 facing west.

OK, you can just make him out here actually heading

into fairly heavy clouds.

Same camera, 3 seconds later, he's disappeared.

And then we have a witness who said that she saw

the helicopter disappear into what

she described as a thick wall of heavy clouds.

The NTSB had quite a few very good witnesses, in my opinion.

And they also had cameras in the area.

So they could collect data in real time of what this pilot

would have been encountering.

The surveillance data shows him

only 450 feet above the ground.

So the cloud base was no more than 450 feet above the ground,

not the 1,100 feet which was being reported along his route.

The report at an airport five miles away

can be greatly different than what you're encountering

because of uplifting winds and that type of thing

around the hills.

NARRATOR: The area near Calabasas

has its own unique climate.

The Malibu Canyon can channel fog up from the Pacific Ocean.

That fog is known to pool precisely where Zobayan

was seen flying into clouds.

The fog gathers here at Myrtle Road.

And this is where our witnesses saw him enter the clouds.

NARRATOR: Investigators have determined

that just over a minute before the accident,

Zobayan flew into dense clouds that would have reduced

his visibility to near zero.

That clinches it.

He flew into IMC.

NARRATOR: IMC, Instrument Meteorological Conditions,

is when visibility is so poor that pilots need

to fly only on instruments.

They were only authorized to fly under visual flight rules.

Legally, he's not allowed to enter it.

He's only allowed to go in visual conditions only.

And yet he did.

NARRATOR: In aviation, there's a term for VFR pilots

who fly into low visibility conditions.

It's called an inadvertent encounter with IMC.

It can happen at night.

We fly into a cloud that you didn't see.

It can happen that you're choosing to avoid something,

and you inadvertently go into a cloud.

Unfortunately it's an accident that happens way too often.

NARRATOR: Inadvertent IMC is a leading

cause of aviation accidents over the past 10 years.

More than 80% of them are fatal.

You can't see where the horizon is.

And you can't see the sky from the ground.

You don't know visually, which is our main sense.

You have to rely on secondary senses

such as sense of balance.

And there are illusions that come up.

NARRATOR: An inadvertent encounter with instrument

conditions is so potentially dangerous

that pilots are trained to do whatever they can to avoid it.

How did he let himself get into this situation?

Let's see his speeds and altitudes.

NARRATOR: The data from the ADSB gives investigators

a detailed picture of the helicopter's altitude

and speed as it approached Calabasas.

If Zobayan tried to avoid the worsening conditions,

the data would show it.

He's bombing along here at about 140 knots.

Visibility is getting worse and worse,

but he's not slowing down.

He's not turning around.

He just keeps going.

Why?

He could have turned around, landed at Van Nuys.

He could have circled for a while where near the airport,

waiting for the conditions to improve.

For whatever reason, we don't know,

he chose none of those options.

NARRATOR: The team now considers the widely held belief

that Zobayan was pressured to continue the flight

by his high-profile passenger.

A lot of people wondered after the crash happened if Kobe,

being Kobe, might have put pressure on this pilot to get

to where he wanted to go, because that's the whole reason

that he was taking the helicopter in the first place

is to get from point A to point B

and do it without any unnecessary delays.

The same passengers take the same flight the day

before the accident.

They're scheduled to take off at 9:45,

but Kobe's changed that to 9:00.

They moved it up by 45 minutes so

that Kobe could watch another team or teams

play in preparation for his daughter's basketball

tournament on Sunday.

So they get airborne just after 9:00,

and then this happens.

They're held up for 12 minutes.

November 2 Echo X-ray, hold outside Burbank airspace.

I have an aircraft going around in an inbound citation.

NARRATOR: Investigators know that Kobe's helicopter was held

up at Burbank for 12 minutes while Zobayan

waited for traffic to clear the controlled airspace.

OK, we'll hold outside Burbank.

2 Echo X-ray.

NARRATOR: A little more than 10 minutes later,

Zobayan flew into thick cloud cover

at a speed of 160 miles an hour as he approached Camarillo.

In my opinion, 140 knots is probably

twice the speed he should have been operating

in those visual conditions.

He should have slowed down.

Was he trying to make up for the lost time?

NARRATOR: The team digs into Kobe Bryant's previous flights

with Island Express to see if there's any history of him

putting pressure on pilots.

Took 26 flights with Island Express last year, and not once

did he pressure a pilot to keep going.

Kobe would never put pressure on a pilot.

I flew him for two years.

Not once was there ever any amount of pressure from him.

NARRATOR: Investigators find no evidence

that Kobe Bryant or any member of his team

put pressure on Zobayan to continue the flight.

They had a history.

NARRATOR: They scrutinized Kobe Bryant's relationship

with Ara Zobayan for anything that

could have affected the pilot's behavior

on the day of the accident.

More than history.

The director of operations says that Kobe's relationship

with Ara was, quote, "warm and friendly,"

that he trusted Ara with his girls and his family,

and that they always wanted Ara.

But the company's VP says that their relationship was more

like a friendship and that Kobe would call him "Mr. Pilot Man."

These guys sure were tight.

The relationship may have been pressure enough.

How's everyone doing today?

NARRATOR: Investigators conclude that Zobayan's

close relationship with Kobe Bryant

may have led to self-induced pressure

to get him to his destination.

Part of the concern here is that the pilot

was trying to complete the mission in part

to satisfy the client.

NARRATOR: Investigators soon find

another important factor that may have influenced

Zobayan's decision-making.

Six minutes before the crash, he clears Van Nuys airspace

and heads south--

tells controllers that he planned to stay low all the way

to Camarillo.

To stay below the clouds.

PILOT (ON RADIO): Helicopter 72 Echo X-ray.

Are you just going to stay down that low

all the way to Camarillo?

Yes, sir-- low altitude.

2 Echo X-ray.

Two minutes later, he starts following

the 101, which should lead him straight into Camarillo.

He bombs along the 101 for two more minutes

until he hits this wall of clouds.

24 miles to go.

He was almost there.

Almost.

NARRATOR: Zobayan was less than 10

minutes away from getting his passengers

to their destination.

When you're close to finishing,

you have a tendency to be willing to tolerate

conditions that might have caused you not

to take the trip originally.

NARRATOR: The team believes Zobayan was suffering

from a condition known as plan continuation bias when

he decided to keep going despite deteriorating

weather conditions.

Plan continuation bias is an unconscious bias

to continue with the original plan,

even when conditions change.

But in an aviation environment, it can be deadly.

It doesn't take long for things to start going wrong as

soon as he entered that cloud.

NARRATOR: Instead of turning around,

Zobayan decides to climb above the clouds.

We're going to go ahead and start our climb

to go above the layers.

He starts banking further and further left,

descends rapidly, hits the hill here.

NARRATOR: The pilot's unusual actions

lead investigators to wonder about the level

of training he received.

He was trained to avoid IMC and what

to do if he got into it.

NARRATOR: They discover that Zobayan

was well-trained to escape the precise conditions he

flew into.

This pilot trained routinely for inadvertent IMC situation.

More than that, he was the chief pilot of the company.

He set the safety standards for all the pilots,

and he trained them on how to deal

with instrument conditions.

This is what he was taught.

NARRATOR: A review of Zobayan's training

shows that he was taught to reduce his speed,

use the autopilot to climb above the clouds,

and then declare an emergency.

His training was good.

NARRATOR: But did Zobayan follow his training?

Here, he's entering an area of low visibility,

still flying well above 100 knots.

No evidence of slowing down.

NARRATOR: Investigators know Zobayan did not reduce speed.

They now wonder if he engaged the autopilot.

Play.

PILOT (ON RADIO): We're going to go ahead and start our climb

to go above the layers.

Look at that rate of climb--

1,500 feet a minute.

It can't be the autopilot doing that.

That exceeds the authority of the autopilot system.

Therefore, this climb was being manually controlled.

All right, well, at this point,

he's just trying to get above the clouds

without the autopilot.

NARRATOR: The higher Zobayan climbs into the dense cloud,

the worse the visibility gets.

But he never asks for help.

Well, he never reports an emergency

and never mentions being in IMC.

And the one thing he should have been saying?

Mayday, mayday, mayday, declare an emergency, inadvertent IMC.

He didn't slow down.

He didn't use his autopilot.

He never declared an emergency.

He ignored all his training.

There are basic procedures that should be followed.

And you have to have very cautious approach to any sort

of instrument conditions.

This was not evident in the way the pilot flew that day.

NARRATOR: By ignoring his training,

Zobayan found himself in a rapid climb with no visibility

and without the help of the autopilot--

prime conditions for becoming spatially disoriented.

Annemarie Landman studies the effects

of spatial disorientation in pilots.

If you take away outside visual reference from a pilot,

then he or she will really have to trust the instruments,

because if you don't have outside visual reference, then

any sensation that you feel can be very misleading.

NARRATOR: Did Ara Zobayan suffer the effects of disorientation

after flying into dense clouds?

MAN: 2 Echo X-ray.

Say intentions.

NARRATOR: Zobayan's last words show

that's precisely what happened.

PILOT (ON RADIO): We're climbing to 4,000.

2 Echo X-ray.

Did you hear that?

It's like he completely lost his bearings.

NARRATOR: The recording tells investigators that Zobayan

believed he was climbing when he was

actually descending rapidly toward the ground

in a steep left turn.

It's what aviators call "the graveyard spiral."

To right that aircraft--

no.

In a mountainous area, you're done.

You're absolutely done.

NARRATOR: The team has pieced together

a picture of a pilot who flew into prime conditions

for causing disorientation.

Zobayan's problem starts just after he flies into the cloud.

He decides the best thing to do is to fly above it.

NARRATOR: But as he climbs, visibility

worsens, and his reference to the highway below

and the horizon ahead quickly disappear.

It's all but impossible for pilots

to determine a plane's pitch and roll without a visual reference

to their surroundings.

Without visual cues, the human body is unable to maintain

its spatial bearings.

The result is disorientation.

As the highway below veers left, Zobayan tries to stay with it.

He puts the helicopter into a gradual left turn.

He's not looking at the instruments at this point.

He was perhaps looking down to search for the highway

that he was following before.

2 Echo X-ray, ident.

NARRATOR: Zobayan now faces a distraction

that makes the situation significantly worse.

Ident.

NARRATOR: He is forced to identify

himself to the controller.

It's not only a distraction.

It forces him to move his head, which increases

the risk of disorientation.

We advise pilots to not move their head

around when they're flying without outward visual

reference.

This is moving the fluid in your inner ears.

And this actually makes you a little bit

more susceptible to illusions.

The highway now veers off to the right,

but he's lost sight of it.

He's banking further and further to the left

without even realizing it.

30 seconds from impact.

NARRATOR: Disorientation sets in.

The turn is so gradual, and it is so slow, that the onset--

it seems that he's not feeling that.

So for him, it still feels that he's flying level.

And he gets to 1,600 feet, and he starts to descend

without even knowing it.

It's clear that prior to the accident,

the pilot really did not know what the helicopter was doing,

because he was asked his intentions,

and he indicated that he was climbing to 4,000 feet.

We're climbing to 4,000.

2 Echo X-ray.

MAN: At that point, the helicopter was not climbing.

It was descending towards the crash,

and the pilot didn't realize it.

NARRATOR: He's now in a rapid descent and likely looking

for clear skies above, not noticing what

his instruments are showing.

Without having outside visual references

and not being focused on your instruments,

it's very easy for that to happen.

And it does happen far too often.

He's so far over, it's like he lost all his lift.

He's plummeting to the ground.

Graveyard spiral-- classic.

About a minute after entering the clouds,

he hits the ground like this--

almost on his side at more than 160 knots.

There's no sign he ever figured out what was really happening.

NARRATOR: Kobe Bryant and eight others died as a result

of an all-too-common scenario--

a helicopter pilot flying IMC and becoming disoriented.

We need something to help pilots understand that just

because you feel like your body is

being pushed down in the seat doesn't mean you're climbing.

NARRATOR: That device exists and is helping train

pilots in the Netherlands.

The one-of-a-kind simulator lets researchers reproduce

the feeling of spatial disorientation without pilots

having to leave the ground.

All right, .

OK, Martin, so how are you feeling now?

I'm feeling pitched up.

ANNEMARIE: You're feeling pitched up?

Yeah.

NARRATOR: Investigators, hoping to prevent the kind of accident

that caused Ara Zobayan to get so badly disoriented,

are looking closely at the work being done in labs

like this one at the Netherlands Organization

for Applied Scientific Research, or TNO.

We investigate the effects of spatial disorientation

on pilot performance.

NARRATOR: Zobayan believed he was climbing when he was

actually descending and was unaware that he

was in a steep left turn.

He was suffering from two of the most common illusions affecting

pilots--

somatogravic, involving his sense

of pitch, and somatogyral, involving his sense of roll.

Spatial disorientation is a factor in about 30%

of fatal helicopter crashes.

NARRATOR: This rotating chair helps pilots experience

the effect of the leans--

the inability to recognize that you are in a steep turn.

When a pilot starts to turn, the fluid in the inner ear

responds.

And it's telling that he or she is in a turn.

But after a while, the fluid sort of settles.

So it actually feels as if they're flying level again.

NARRATOR: This pilot is using his thumbs

to show the direction he believes he's turning.

For the first few seconds, he's right.

But as the fluid in his ear settles,

he no longer senses the turn.

This is the identical illusion that Ara Zobayan experienced.

It's why he never realized that he had entered

a gradual left turn once he lost sight of the highway

below, even though his instruments would have been

telling him precisely that.

We train them here to really trust their instruments

and to really be focused on their instruments,

especially in situations of low visibility.

NARRATOR: But the heart of TNO's facility

is this simulator called Desdemona.

OK, so here's what's going to happen.

You just have to wait for our mark.

And then you just have to level the aircraft.

But you have to do that with the instruments,

so only based on your gut feeling.

NARRATOR: It's a disorientation demonstrator which

safely simulates the effects of pitch and roll illusions

on pilots.

It's the only one in the world.

ANNEMARIE (ON RADIO): OK, Martin, so first, you're just

going to fly a little bit to get acquainted

with the controls, all right?

Yeah, so you have the instruments available.

MAN: Yep.

OK, let's start the simulation.

NARRATOR: Unlike simulators that are attached to the ground,

Desdemona can simulate unlimited degrees

of pitch, yaw, and roll, as well as the forces of acceleration.

It's really important to have a simulator that can really

create a constant force or constant force

that feels like acceleration.

Continuing climb.

Continuing climb.

NARRATOR: Pilot Martin Kemna is about to experience

the same sensation that Zobayan felt moments before the crash.

The instruments in the simulator are turned off,

so he must rely only on feel.

Martin, how are you feeling now?

I'm feeling straight and level.

Let's ramp up the acceleration and see how that feels.

Now we're starting the centrifuge,

and the cabin of the simulator is pointing towards the center.

So for Martin, it actually just feels like he's accelerating

forwards.

NARRATOR: The acceleration causes him to mistake

what is actually happening.

OK, Martin, what are you feeling now?

MARTIN (ON RADIO): A bit pitched up.

ANNEMARIE: And what do you think that the aircraft is doing now?

MARTIN (ON RADIO): We're climbing now.

If you're accelerating forwards,

the little hairs in your inner ear

will actually give a constant signal that is the same

as if you're being pitched up.

We're climbing to 4,000, 2 Echo X-ray.

NARRATOR: It's the exact illusion that caused

Ara Zobayan to believe he was still

climbing when his helicopter was in a steep descent.

So can you now bring the nose back to level?

MARTIN (ON RADIO): Yeah, sure.

So you can see that he's bringing

the nose below the horizon.

But for him, this actually feels level.

So shall we show him the instruments?

MARTIN (ON RADIO): Oh, my god.

No, 20 degrees, nose down.

OK.

Can you recover?

We hope that this helps them to recognize spatial

disorientation when it occurs.

Secondly, we also hope to teach them

some skills that help them to manage spatial disorientation

if it occurs.

Wow.

That was-- it was crazy.

I believe that as a tribute to the victims of this accident,

the industry needs to realize how common and sinister

these effects can be and develop better safety standards.

NARRATOR: As a result of NTSB recommendations,

the Federal Aviation Administration

is evaluating tools like Desdemona that can be used

to train more pilots how to recognize and cope

with the effects of disorientation.

The last thing the NTSB wants to do

is go back and investigate this kind of accident

all over again.

And through the death of this person and people on board,

hopefully this will be the one to help improve safety.

Time will tell.