Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash

[Justin]

7 minutes ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

Like I said they break legit stories but they do so without thinking about the consequences.  Getting it right doesn't mean it's right.

I'm more cynical; I believe they fully understand the consequences anytime they break a story like this. They just weigh it against the number of clicks they will get and choose the latter every time. 

[fan_since79]

An emotional Gary Vitti talks about his long friendship and professional relationship with Kobe. He appears crushed by it all.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kobe-bryant-lakers-athletic-trainer-gary-vittis-favorite-memory-with-nba-legend/#

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

4 minutes ago, SoPas Angel said:

I'm more cynical; I believe they fully understand the consequences anytime they break a story like this. They just weigh it against the number of clicks they will get and choose the latter every time. 

I don't disagree.  When I say without thinking about the consequences I really should have said that they just don't care because that's their business.  For them bad press is still press.

[ten ocho recon scout]

5 hours ago, JarsOfClay said:

This is all speculation, but I believe this was the likely scenario. I just don't understand why the LAPD is forced to ground it's helicopters, but they allow a civilian copter to fly?

Some pilots local to the Los Angeles area have started weighing in with their own theories as to what went wrong with the helicopter crash Sunday morning that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant and eight others, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter.

Basing their assessment on the flight tracker and the accident scene, they believe the pilot, Ara Zobayan, assumed that he had cleared all of the mountains and was proceeding to back to his destination when he hit another mountain. At one point the pilot's elevation dropped dramatically from 2,000 feet to 1,700 feet. While it was likely to go under the fog, which was so thick that the LAPD had grounded its helicopter flights, it seems that the pilot misjudged the landscape of the area entirely.

https://popculture.com/sports/2020/01/28/kobe-bryant-helicopter-crash-local-pilot-theories/

In reference to why PD helicopters dont fly.

First, liability. You fly into something, the city gets sued for tens of millions.

So you weigh that against what the helicopter is..... an asset. Its not a "must". The majority of agencies in the region dont have an airship to begin with. But you can still police without one.

In a dire situation, they would take off. Sheriffs and County Fire took off when this came out for example. But just having them up isnt going to happen.

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

5 hours ago, Stradling said:

So last March I took a helicopter from El Monte up to Arroyo Grande, my understanding is it is a similar flight path to the one Kobe’s helicopter was on.  I’ll share some images from the flight up.  A few things that I found amazing using a helicopter for commuting are it never felt like you were going fast, when we were probably going close to 180 miles per hour.  Second when we would hit heavy cloud cover the helicopter would simply rise up and above the clouds.  Third it really did feel like you were hovering more than flying, it that makes sense.  I had been on helicopters before to do tours in Hawaii or along the cost, but to commute it felt different.  I have no idea if one helicopter is different than the other.  I was in a Bell military grade helicopter that happens to be the only one privately owned in the country, which might have something to do with how safe it felt.  The regulations on the helicopter is something crazy, like it has to be within 90% of its original performance in order for it to go up in the air.  They are meticulous about its maintenance.  I was told that buying a used helicopter is basically the same cost as a new one because of this and the fact that there is no wait.  Anyway here are some pics:

 

That last pic of dodger stadium makes me wish it wasnt an ex military bird, but a current armed one.

[Angel Oracle]

I haven't been up in a helicopter, but did go up in a private plane once in 1990 (from El Toro to Monterey and back for a one day work related trip).   Both pilots (married couple, the husband also working where I was at the time) were former military pilots, felt very secure.

[Stradling]

Yea, I will let you guys guess who the female pilot is in my photos.  

[Lhalo]

32 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Yea, I will let you guys guess who the female pilot is in my photos.  

Is she a reporter?

Is she a billionaire? Just a hunch. 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Lhalo

[Angelsfan1984]

53 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Yea, I will let you guys guess who the female pilot is in my photos.  

Caitlyn Jenner

[ettin]

2 hours ago, Sam Hyde said:

air traffic control to kobe's pilot & flight path 

 

also a link to a vid showing what it's like to fly & crash a helicopter in extreme fog  

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=547_1499356805

When you listen to and watch this clip, you see the helicopter start radically changing direction and all communications cut out with little (muffled according to the sub-titles in the YouTube clip) or zero response from the pilot. Some people keep pointing to pilot error, which of course can be the cause, but to me the way the helicopter shifted direction and the lack of communication points to some type of sudden mechanical failure and perhaps even a power failure because the pilot never calls out a May Day (and at 1500 feet perhaps he didn't have time to or he was simply to low for effective communication) or responds to air traffic control. It is all speculation until the NTSB finishes its investigation but the sudden movement on radar at the 17:39:40 mark on the video is approximately when whatever happened, started and you see the turning as the pilot was trying to regain positive control and/or fighting to avoid canyon terrain as the bird went down. One other possibility is that the pilot had some type of medical event (stroke, heart attack, etc.) which led to the crash too.

[Tank]

3 hours ago, Sam Hyde said:

also a link to a vid showing what it's like to fly & crash a helicopter in extreme fog  

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=547_1499356805

heartbreaking.

[ten ocho recon scout]

2 hours ago, ettin said:

When you listen to and watch this clip, you see the helicopter start radically changing direction and all communications cut out with little (muffled according to the sub-titles in the YouTube clip) or zero response from the pilot. Some people keep pointing to pilot error, which of course can be the cause, but to me the way the helicopter shifted direction and the lack of communication points to some type of sudden mechanical failure and perhaps even a power failure because the pilot never calls out a May Day (and at 1500 feet perhaps he didn't have time to or he was simply to low for effective communication) or responds to air traffic control. It is all speculation until the NTSB finishes its investigation but the sudden movement on radar at the 17:39:40 mark on the video is approximately when whatever happened, started and you see the turning as the pilot was trying to regain positive control and/or fighting to avoid canyon terrain as the bird went down. One other possibility is that the pilot had some type of medical event (stroke, heart attack, etc.) which led to the crash too.

I think its possible the radio contact was lost pre crash from the terrain, but I could be wrong.

[ettin]

13 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I think its possible the radio contact was lost pre crash from the terrain, but I could be wrong.

Yeah if they were already at 1500' in the canyon area and then suddenly lost altitude that could have contributed to the lack of comms.

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 minute ago, ettin said:

Yeah if they were already at 1500' in the canyon area and then suddenly lost altitude that could have contributed to the lack of comms.

Again, this is just me pretending to be smart, and speculating. But thinking about the info that they were in a sudden turn, and descending towards the last moment, im wondering if it was a disorientation issue. Poor viz, in a canyon, etc. I imagine that last turn was a last second attempt to avoid terrain the pilot wasnt expecting (like cloud bank lifting and the mountain ahead).

[Lou]

Am I the only one who isn't interested in hearing about every last detail of the actual crash? 

[Lhalo]

The only reason I am is because I want to see if there are any measures that can be taken to prevent this from happening again (if that’s even possible). I know you can’t keep every tragedy from happening but I’m sure people can learn. Also it was interesting to find out from @Angelsfan1984 that the helicopter had a manufacturer’s recommendation to have a copilot. 
 

Do I want to find out if it was a Challenger type ride back to the Earth? Absolutely not. 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

I may be posting in this thread but no I don't want to hear every little detail or watch a video of what a helicopter crash would be like so I've stayed away from that stuff.  I hope that since it happened it was as quick as possible and it was over for all 9 victims before they even realized what was happening.  I know more will come out and the current assumptions could change but so far it sounds like it was pilot error and it wasn't the best time to be in a helicopter given the weather.  If they're going to give waivers or allow people to fly in those conditions then accidents like this are more likely in those situations.  I've opted to not drive somewhere or go places when the weather gets bad and after being in a helicopter just once going through clouds, a bit of rain and getting pushed around by wind (all minor and I'm sure fairly regular) I wouldn't get into one in adverse conditions unless I absolutely had to. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

2 hours ago, Lhalo said:

The only reason I am is because I want to see if there are any measures that can be taken to prevent this from happening again (if that’s even possible). I know you can’t keep every tragedy from happening but I’m sure people can learn. Also it was interesting to find out from @Angelsfan1984 that the helicopter had a manufacturer’s recommendation to have a copilot. 

It didn't have terrain avoidance warning equipment either. That isn't a requirement, but if the aircraft was going to be operated in low visibility conditions, it seems that it would be desirable.

[ettin]

17 hours ago, Lou said:

Am I the only one who isn't interested in hearing about every last detail of the actual crash? 

Sorry Lou, as an engineer I have an innate need to understand how something failed, particularly because I have spent quite a bit of time performing Mission Assurance work, so vehicle failure modes is a subject I deal with a lot. 

[Angelsfan1984]

16 hours ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

It didn't have terrain avoidance warning equipment either. That isn't a requirement, but if the aircraft was going to be operated in low visibility conditions, it seems that it would be desirable.

That's part of why the aircraft requires 2 pilots. Its a massive helicopter so there are many blind spots. Typically when they are outfitted to fly with only 1 pilot they will have equipment like this added and flight controls moved around. I really have a feeling its going to come out that something happened to the pilot mid flight rather than any type of equipment failure. My guess is that either something hit the blades or he had a heart attack and tried to control it but failed to do so.

[nando714]

Just thinking about Kobe and all the others who were tragically taken far too soon  the last few days..it just hurts different for me for some reason. I have no idea why and never felt this way about a athletes death before. 

my buddy played for coach altobelli at OCC and helped him move on to Lewis-Clark State. 
 

I feel like most of us watched Kobe grow before our eyes. I was 10 years old When he broke into the league. Watching him throw air balls in Utah, win the dunk contest, taking the lakers over the hump in 2000 and start a dynasty. Also when he was in a rift with the lakers then onto a string a title to end the last decade. whether you liked him as a player or not I think most of us still respected him. Was he perfect ? No, he had his downfalls just like the rest of us, but I believe he learned from all that. He seemed like a wonderful father and learned to become a better husband (at least from what the public sees). 
 

I don’t think he could have handled retirement better. Some players struggle, go into tv, etc. He freakin won an Oscar right off the bat. He was writing books, teaching young nba players more than ever. Expanding to the women’s game with his daughter and reaching into the college and professional ranks. So much more. 

I feel like his playing career was just the surface. He was gonna give the world so much more in the 2nd half of his life. We will never know what else he had store. 

to see the entire world touched by this is just crazy. Comparing him to Michael Jackson or Princess Diana. 
 

When I see 1978-2020 I don’t wanna believe it. It honestly sucks. 
 

I can’t imagine what all the families involved are going through. This entire situation is just awful. 

 

[Lou]

7 hours ago, ettin said:

Sorry Lou, as an engineer I have an innate need to understand how something failed, particularly because I have spent quite a bit of time performing Mission Assurance work, so vehicle failure modes is a subject I deal with a lot. 

Why are you apologizing? 

[ettin]

6 minutes ago, Lou said:

Why are you apologizing? 

Felt like you were marginally upset (and only marginally ).

[Lou]

Just now, ettin said:

Felt like you were marginally upset (and only marginally ).

Not at all. I just think those that are breaking down every last detail are horrible human beings.

 

Marginally. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

13 minutes ago, Lou said:

Why are you apologizing? 

He's just trying to manage your anger issues

Sorry!