Crash That Killed Kobe Bryant Could Force FAA To Rethink Helicopter Safety

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be spurred to reconsider the helicopter safety standards after the crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight other people on board, according to experts.

The FAA will begin requiring a terrain awareness and warning system, known as TAWS, which currently is only available on some of the helicopters plying the American skies. The experts spoke to NBC News a day after the National Transportation Safety Board member investigated Sunday’s crash.

The investigator said that the doomed Sikorsky S-76B chopper was not equipped with a TAWS, which would have alerted the pilot if the helicopter got too close to the ground. The FAA had till now resisted making this safety system compulsory for all helicopters.

“This crash is getting a lot of attention because Kobe Bryant was killed. I expect the NTSB will come out with a terrific report that will have recommendations for the FAA for safety improvements, like requiring a terrain awareness warning system for all helicopters,” David Hoeppner, a retired engineering professor at the University of Utah and a longtime gadfly of the helicopter industry, told NBC News.

The FAA gave in to public pressure following a spate of deadly crashes and made the TAWS compulsory for an ambulance and other medical helicopters about six years ago. However, Hoeppner felt that helicopter manufacturers and operators won’t be happy if FAA says all helicopter would require TAWS, as it costs money.

Jennifer Homendy, a member of the NTSB, told Tuesday that while she couldn’t say whether having a TAWS system on board could have prevented Sunday’s crash, it certainly would have helped, NBC News reported.

The helicopter lost contact with air traffic controllers when it was at an altitude of 2,300 ft. and then crashed into a hillside at a rate of more than 2,000 feet a minute.

According to Jerry Kidrick, a retired Army colonel who flew helicopters from Alaska to Iraq and who now teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, he’s not certain if a TAWS could have prevented the crash, noting that that the pilot said he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer in his last radio message.

He also pointed out that the Los Angeles Police Department decided to ground its helicopters till Sunday afternoon owing to the thick fog, raising questions about the risk assessment done before the chopper took off.

Bryant, his teenage daughter Gianna, and seven other people were killed in the crash. The bodies of the dead have been recovered and the NTSB is carrying out an investigation into the cause of the crash.