Accidents
Kobe Crash Copter Company Blaming ATC
Island Express Helicopters is blaming the fatal crash of its S-76 on air traffic controllers.

The company that operated the Sikorsky S-76B that crashed and killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and eight others in January is blaming the accident on air traffic controllers. In a cross-complaint filing with a California superior court in Los Angeles, Island Express Helicopters alleges controllers at the Southern California Tracon (Socal), failed to continue to provide VFR flight following to the accident helicopter and asserts that the controllers’ actions “are the proximate cause of the accident.”