Vanessa Bryant Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Helicopter Company, Claims Kobe's Pilot Was Reckless

Not only do experts and fans think the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and several others was completely avoidable, so does his wife.

According to TMZ, Vanessa Bryant has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company who owned the helicopter that collided into a Calabasas hillside last month, killing her husband, their daughter Gianna, and seven others.

The lawsuit claims Island Express was only allowed to fly under visual flight rules (VFR), which are only used in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Because conditions the day of the crash weren’t conducive for that type of flying — as we reported, the fog was extremely low the day of the accident, causing the LAPD to ground its entire fleet of choppers — the lawsuit alleges the aircraft engaged in unnecessary and needlessly risky means of transportation under the circumstances.

Unsurprisingly, the lawsuit places the blame on the pilot, Ara George Zobayan, who was allegedly going 180 miles per hour through the heavy fog in a steep decline before the crash.

The suit alleges that Zobayan failed to do many essential tasks which would have prevented the accident, including properly monitoring and assessing the weather prior to takeoff and obtaining proper weather data prior to the flight. He also allegedly failed to abort the flight when he knew of the cloudy condition, failed to maintain control of the helicopter, and failed to avoid “natural obstacles” in the flight path, according to the docs.

The lawsuit notes Zobayan was disciplined in 2015 for violating the VFR minimums by flying into an airspace of reduced visibility, and claims the helicopter wasn’t safe. It wasn’t stated what specifically was unsafe about the aircraft, but, as TMZ notes, the basis for the claim could be that the helicopter was not certified to fly in bad weather.

Vanessa is asking for punitive damages, claiming the pilot and Island Express were reckless, as well as “pre-impact” terror damages — damages for the emotional trauma Kobe and Gigi suffered as the pilot struggled to get control of the aircraft before the crash.

The docs don’t list an amount of damages sought, but they will likely amount to well in the millions.

[Image via WENN/ESPN]