The chopper touched down east of Los Angeles. Its rotor whirred to a halt. And on a mild afternoon three years ago, a rangy man in camo-print Nikes stepped out. Kobe Bryant chartered helicopters regularly in retirement. Nov. 22, 2018, was just another day in his charmed life.
Except that it was Thanksgiving.
And there was a crisis.
Someone in the Bryant family had forgotten the candied yams at home.
Rather than risk an incomplete feast, Kobe returned to the helicopter. Waiting for him was a pilot he trusted more than any other. A pilot who went to great lengths to meet Kobe’s every need. One who flew him back to Orange County that day; who stood by as Kobe hustled to his Newport Beach mansion; who flew him east once more with the
candied yams in tow.
As Kobe increasingly turned to helicopter travel to evade LA traffic, he wouldn’t just fly with any pilot. Two were effectively blacklisted, one because the Bryants, in the words of their transportation coordinator, simply “didn’t care for him.” Only a few pilots were even approved to fly the Laker legend. And only one was ever requested.
Ara Zobayan, to Kobe, was "Mr. Pilot Man."