Vanessa Bryant, the widow of the late, great NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, has agreed to settle a lawsuit against the pilot and owners of the helicopter that crashed last year that sadly killed the Bryants’ daughter, Gianna, and seven others. If approved by the court, the settlement would end a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit filed against the estate of the pilot and the owner and operator of the helicopter that crashed into a hillside on January 26, 2020.

Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and six other passengers were flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County last year when the helicopter encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. Pilot Ara Zobayan climbed sharply and had nearly broken through the clouds when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter banked abruptly and plunged into the Calabasas hills below, killing all nine aboard instantly before flames engulfed the wreckage. It’s unknown why Zobayan made this sudden, life-ending maneuver.

Amongst the others killed in the crash were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa, Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team, as well as Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.

The crash was investigated more thoroughly earlier this year, with the National Transportation Safety Board releasing a report in February that blamed pilot error for the crash. The NTSB said a series of poor decisions led Zobayan to fly blindly into a wall of clouds where he became so disoriented he thought he was climbing when the craft was plunging. The agency also faulted Island Express Helicopters Inc. for inadequate review and oversight of safety matters. The settlement agreement would end legal action against Zobayan’s estate, Island Express Helicopters Inc. and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp. The suit alleged the companies didn’t properly train or supervise Zobayan and that the pilot was careless and negligent for flying in fog and should have aborted the flight.

It’s now been just five days since one of the greatest tragedies in sports took the lives of nine people including Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant. An ongoing investigation has been underway after Bryant’s Sikorski S-76B helicopter fatally crashed in Calabasas, California, Sunday and new details have emerged.

According to three sources familiar with the charter company Island Express Helicopters which owned Bryant’s chopper, the company did not have the same clearance to fly in tough weather conditions like the pilot Ara Zobayan personally had. Although the helicopter is known for frequently transporting executives and celebrities, Zobayan did not have the “legal authority to navigate with his instruments because the air craft owner did not have the necessary federal certification,” a source told the New York Times. The company had a Federal Aviation Administration certification that only allowed pilots to under visual flight rules that require at least three miles of visibility and a cloud ceiling no lower than 1,000 feet above the ground.

When the crash occurred, the helicopter was traveling at a rate of 153 miles per hour, and fell at a rate of 23 miles per hour before crashing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Zobayan was known as a reputable pilot and had no reported accidents on his record. Flying since 1998, he earned his commercial pilot’s license in 2007 and was a certified instructor who had logged more than 8,200 hours of flight time including 1,250 hours in the Sikorski S-76B. He had been known to fly Bryant frequently and made the same trip the day before. Zobayan had also served as a pilot for Clippers’ star Kawhi Leonard. “He was one of the best pilots,” Leonard said. “That’s a guy who you ask for to fly you from city to city.”

More details will be reported when available.