Posted on 02/08/2020 6:57:41 AM PST by L.A.Justice
Lol
Made me chuckle...
Amen brother
Why couldn’t he follow the 101 low Altitude......I don’t know minimum altitude allowedin Los Angeles county?
That is what he was doing until he likely ran into near zero visibility conditions...
The NTSB may have evidence that he flew into the clouds intentionally.
Yes it reads he was following the 101 but for some reason turned into the hills
Ceiling was around 1000 but broken even below that
Visibility was not much ....
I am not a pilot, only a sailor.
I am however, aware of spatial disorientation on a 2d scale.
Try sailing close hauled in heavy fog.
Even when your compass says you are going in a straight line, you would swear you are going around in a big circle.
.
“Almost” Doesn’t Win when Mountainsides and air vehicles are concerned.
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thats exactly what he was doing...then a thick blanket of fog rolled in....he tried to climb out of it, became disoriented, flew into a mountainside...bet the last 5-10 seconds was a real joy looking out of that windshield....man..
Do you know if the aircraft had a cockpit voice recorder?
When I was a crewchief on Huey’s, we were low level fly in the mountains and bumped into a cloud bank at the top of a rising canyon. Everyone except for me was IMC... As we did a return to target maneuver, I was facing straight down and could still see the ground. We weren’t doing no 165kts! I can tell you that. Maybe 60kts.
Do you know if the aircraft had a cockpit voice recorder?
...
The NTSB says there were no recorders and none were required. However, there were digital avionics that may contain useful information. They also recovered personal electronics, like cellphones, that may be of use.
Heard right after the crash, that they were very close to being able to rise above the clouds, but didn't make it.
People keep saying that they shouldn't have flown.
That might be true, but they could have just as easily crashed in a car, if they had chosen that mode oftransportation.
You just never know.
Tragic story either way. And it shows that you can be young, in good health, and have all the money you need, but that life is always fragile, and time is precious.
You never know when your journey here will end. .
Prayers for all the victims and their families.
“It wasn’t his helicopter. He was using a helicopter taxi service.”
This was Kobes’s “personal” helicopter, in all but actual title. He used this helicopter and this pilot every time that he flew.
“except for the circling around Hollywood (which maybe Kobe wanted him to do for the passengers)”
That apparently had something to do with the flight path of LAX or Burbank and waiting for clearance to proceed.
Actually the pilot wasn’t on his usual path because of the heavy cloud cover. The one that he chose instead followed a highway. Which could have worked as a guide if he had been able to see it, but in addition to a low cloud ceiling there was exceptionally heavy fog. There wasn’t just one bad decision going on.
A friend of mine who now flies for a major airline used to work for a private airline that flies celebrities.
When you fly for a major airline they back you up if you decide that it’s too dangerous to take the plane up. No passenger, celebrity or not, is going to overrule the pilot.
It’s a whole different situation with a small private service that caters to the rich. And the smaller the airline the more that they feel the pressure from their elite passengers.
So the helicopter was never used by anyone else?
I would expect preflight activities will be looked into by the NTSB. If they were going to have to drive, a call would have needed to placed by ~7:30 AM so all the passengers could make separate plans. The helicopter took off a bit after 9:00 AM. The drive is about 95 miles between airports. It will be interesting to find out what if any phones calls were made between passengers, Kobe and the pilot.
From what LA media has been reporting since the accident it was for all intents and purposes his helicopter. He used it for his regular commute the way that the rest of us use our cars. They have been running a clip of him telling a reporter that the helicopter was the best way of beating SoCal traffic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/kobe-bryant-sikorsky-helicopter.html
History: Mr. Bryant had often flown in the helicopter before. For much of his playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers, he commuted to home games at Staples Center by helicopter. He began calling his ride the “Mamba Chopper.”
For his final game in April 2016, he made the trip in the same S-76B that crashed on Sunday; its fuselage had been decorated for that occasion with a black snakeskin pattern and Mr. Bryant’s personal logo. A former Island Express pilot told The Los Angeles Times that the “limo-esque” helicopter was a favorite of Mr. Bryant.
The aircraft also appeared, in its more usual blue-and-white livery, in photos with other celebrities — including Lorenzo Lamas, the actor turned pilot, and the singer Ashanti — that were posted on social media in recent years.
From 2007 to 2015, the helicopter was owned by the State of Illinois, part of a fleet used to transport government officials. The state sold the helicopter at auction for $515,161, according to a state database cited by The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Ill.
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