The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter that pilot Ara Zobayan of Island Express Helicopters was flying that day was not equipped with a terrain awareness warning system, or TAWS.
After a Calabasas helicopter crash in January 2020 killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others, focus quickly turned to technology that warns pilots when they’re too close to the ground or other obstacles. The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter that pilot Ara Zobayan of Island Express Helicopters was flying that day was not equipped with a terrain awareness warning system, or TAWS. The system displays a map of the terrain ahead of the pilot, highlighting in red the elevated areas that the aircraft could smash into if the aircraft doesn’t pull up. The problem, NTSB officials now say, is that Zobayan didn’t appear to know which way was up. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Tuesday that Zobayan’s flight path showed he was experiencing “spatial disorientation,” a trick that sensors in a person’s inner ear can play when they lose all visibility.
