Posted on 02/08/2020 6:57:41 AM PST by L.A.Justice
**His pilot had the flattest chrome dome i have ever seen.**
That is partly the result of the close up of a selfie, and the low, angled up, position of the camera. The smartphone cameras I’ve used are not good for great close ups.
“He might have been able to punch through to clear air above, but would have been trapped on top with nowhere to go but back to SNA. “
Holy cow...another great point. So, the pilot screwed up the moment he entered the clouds...rather than turning around.
If you are not a pilot you don’t know what spatial disorientation is. This is a clear case of it. He had no experience in actual IFR conditions. It is scary if you don’t know how to maneuver in these conditions.
This is a dumb question based on complete ignorance of helicopter piloting, but even $100 toy quadrocopters these can have an autopilot feature that keeps them hovering/asending/descending in-place.
Why don’t helicopters have such a feature?
I admit it’s a dumb question. I am just curious.
It wasn’t his helicopter. He was using a helicopter taxi service. Do you check the drivers license of the driver when you take a taxi?
**Spatial Disorientation, it didn’t help that he was doing 165 knots, he could have been going 20 knots and hovered over the freeway, unfortunately getthereitis is all too often a fatal decision.**
Yes, that’s what I said a couple days after the crash, when I saw on flightradar24 that, except for the circling around Hollywood (which maybe Kobe wanted him to do for the passengers), he was flying close to max cruise speed most of the time. Good way to get behind the ac when suddenly you have too much to do all at once. According to the sale listing of the bird when Illinios was selling it, it was IFR equipped, and had autopilot. The autopilot could have reduced his workload in his ascent into the clouds. I’m guessing that he didn’t use it.
Pilot Error, the end...
A helicopter isn’t a horse shoe or hand grenade.
And you can bet the local news here in LA will cover it every day until then,they don’t cover much news here only fluff and junk and every newscast has a animal story.
im sure hed flown that route many many times and knew the terrain he was starting to fly over....should have just stayed low, SLOWED DOWN, and just returned to Van Nuys....nope, he just had to get there...
gotta be a awful feeling..that first twinge of panic....
The pilot’s a murderer in my eyes. Arrogant POS killed a bunch of kids and ruined several families.
He knew better, he did it anyway.
Face of a child killer.
I suspect the NTSB will look into to see if the pilot made any attempt at flight planning that day. A resident near the crash site said the fog was the worse he had seen it in the 17 years he lived there..
Plus the moron was doing 150knts or whatever.
theres one video ive seen of another chopper hovering over the burning wreckage...not sure how long after the actual impact, but man, you literally cant see half way up the the surrounding hills and mountains...very dense fog
the ol “bah, ive flown in a lot worse than this...just leave it to me”.....
Nearly isn’t good enough, unless it’s horseshoes or hand grenades...
He was instrument rated, but flying into instrument conditions violated corporate policy and their certificate for operation.
....
So does crashing... Sounds like he was inadvertently IMC. Seems like there would be a procedure for that.
There is a Sheriff's station helo pad about a mile or so away from the crash site. It might have come from there, but haven't seen any reports confirming it...
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