Kobe Bryant Pilot May Have Been Disoriented In Fog

The pilot, Are Zobayan for the helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and six others reportedly claimed he was attempting to climb in altitude just before the crash. Experts are now saying he was "disoriented" from the fog after reports Wednesday showed the flight path.

"Calculated apparent angles at this time show that the pilot could have misperceived both pitch and roll angles," one report stated. "

"During the final descent the pilot, responding to(air traffic control), stated that they were "climbing to four thousand(feet)".

Experts would interpret Zobayan's path of flight to be caused by disorientation. The 1,700 page report does not offer a conclusion, but are expected to at some point later.

Four current and one former pilot for Island Express were interviewed by investigators and a lack of safety culture echoed. Some saying "it could have been better." One of the pilots would say Zobayan, the company's chief pilot, didn't discuss safety policy or the minimum visibility needed to fly in certain weather. Another said the company didn't have a real safety management program.

Seems like Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit grows steam by the second. We never know every detail, but having no safety protocols in place can't end well after a crash killing eight.

The company would say they had no problem cancelling flights if weather was poor. It sited canceling flights for Clippers star Kawhi Leonard and celebrity Kylie Jenner.

They didn't seem too cautious for the Bryants. The protocols former employees claim were missing was the surefire way to prevent accidents like this from happening. They clearly weren't following any type of practice.

Island express reported 150 flight cancellations last year due to weather. There were 13 so far this year, logged two days before Kobe Bryant's fatal flight with Zobayan.

45 minutes before takeoff, Are Zobayan texted a group overseeing the flight that the weather was looking "OK." Richard Webb, owner of OC Helicopters, which coordinated the flight, agreed.

The flight took off from John Wayne Airport in Orange County at 9:06 a.m. with the eight passengers he flew in the day before to the say location: Mamba Sports Academy North of Los Angeles for a girls basketball tournament.

When the flight hadn't landed within an hour, an executive of the company began a frantic search for the craft with tracking software and even dispatched a chopper to look for it.

"The weird thing, though, is that the tracker had stopped working at 9:45 a.m. which is not normal and we were trying to reach Are over the radio," noted Whitney Bagge, vice president of Island Express Helicopters. "I kept refreshing the tracker praying that it was just broken."

There was reportedly no sign of mechanical failure in the Sikorsky S-76.

No telling how long until final results come, but clearly a complicated case with lots of: he said she said.