#Kobe Bryant’s pilot radioed he was climbing out of fog before deadly crash

The helicopter pilot who was flying Kobe Byrant’s doomed chopper in January reported to air traffic controllers that he was climbing out of fog when in fact the aircraft was plunging toward a hillside, according to documents released Wednesday.

Pilot Ara Zobayan radioed to the air traffic controllers that he was climbing to 4,000 feet soon before the chopper crashed into the hillside near Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26, killing Bryant, his daughter Gianna and six other passengers.

At the time of the radio communication, the chopper was actually headed toward the hillside — a misfire National Transportation Safety Board investigators said could be attributed to the pilot having “misperceived” the pitch of the helicopter.

He could could have “misperceived” the trajectory by becoming disoriented due to lack of visibility, according the the NTSB.

A cause of the crash was not included in the documents, but investigators believe the flight path Zobayan took indicated that he was disorientated while piloting the chopper.

Bryant, Gianna, six of their friends and Zobayan were killed in the crash as the chopper spiraled out of the sky amid foggy conditions.

Each of the passengers died of blunt force trauma, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office. Zobayan had no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the crash, according to the medical examiner.

With Post Wires