Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the helicopter company her husband hired, claiming that their aircraft never should have been flying that morning.
The lawsuit alleges Island Express was only rated to fly via visual rules, not by instrument. Also, because of the fog that morning, the helicopter should have been grounded. It was reported that during the doomed flight, the pilot, Ara Zobayan, had radioed flight control asking to fly by instrument.
The lawsuit also alleges that the doomed helicopter was flying at 180 miles-per-hour through the fog and went into a steep decline, TMZ reported.
The filing also alleges that the pilot did not properly monitor weather conditions and should have aborted the flight when he knew how bad it was. It also notes that he failed to avoid “natural obstacles.”
The suit asks for damages for the victims experiencing “pre-impact” terror, as well as emotional trauma for the NBA player and his 13-year-old daughter, Gigi, both of whom died on the crash.
Mrs. Bryant’s lawsuit also raises the FAA violation that pilot Ara Zobayan earned on 2015 for violating the visual flight rule minimums by flying during reduced visibility.
The suit asks for punitive damages claiming that both the pilot and Island Express were reckless. No exact dollar amount is mentioned in the filing.
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