Helicopter Pilot Ara Zobayan Remembered As 'Passionate'

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA — A 50-year-old Huntington Beach man for whom flying was "his life's passion" was piloting the helicopter that crashed Sunday in Calabasas, all nine people on board including retired Lakers basketball legend Kobe Bryant.

Ara Zobayan was a flight instructor with over 20 years of experience flying in Southern California. Not much is known about the man, who regularly flew for Bryant, who preferred to fly across Los Angeles and Orange County traffic than drive through it. FlightAware shows that the same helicopter that crashed in Calabasas took many trips since the first of the year — 42 in total, including 16 landings at John Wayne Airport, according to USA Today.

Zobayan was an experienced, licensed helicopter pilot who was well-respected by his colleagues.

Zobayan worked for many years at Group 3 Aviation out of Van Nuys, although he was not flying for it the day of the crash. A spokesperson said that its members were "heartbroken for the loss of our friend and pilot Ara Zobayan."

Though they were not ready to discuss details of his life, they did say that he came to the company in 1998 to learn to fly helicopters. He received his commercial pilot license to fly rotorcraft helicopters and instrument helicopters in 2007.

"He had taken a sightseeing tour flight at the Grand Canyon and knew immediately he wanted to become a pilot," Peter and Claudia Lowry of Group 3 Aviation wrote on Facebook. "Ara worked hard in other businesses to save enough money to pay for training. Flying was his life's passion."