Posted on 01/27/2020 7:30:02 AM PST by BenLurkin
The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed into a rugged hillside in Calabasas was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers.
The cause of the crash was unknown, but conditions at the time were such that the Los Angeles Police Department and the county sheriff's department grounded their helicopters.
Bryant’s helicopter left Santa Ana in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, shortly after 9 a.m. and circled for a time just east of Interstate 5, near Glendale. Air traffic controllers noted poor visibility around Burbank, just to the north, and Van Nuys, to the northwest.
After holding up the helicopter for other aircraft, they cleared the Sikorsky S-76 to proceed north along Interstate 5 through Burbank before turning west to follow U.S Route 101, the Ventura Highway.
Shortly after 9:40 a.m., the helicopter turned again, toward the southeast, and climbed to more than 2000 feet (609 meters). It then descended and crashed into the hillside at about 1400 feet (426 meters), according to data from Flightradar24.
When it struck the ground, the helicopter was flying at about 160 knots (184 mph) and descending at a rate of more than 4000 feet per minute, the data showed.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
I have friends at Lockheed who had to work all night long on this S-76 copter blowback, and it is really unfair. It’s an exceptional, safe craft, and it should NOT have been flown yesterday when police and other copters were kept grounded.
Died like he lived thinking normal rules don’t apply to him due to wealth fame and celebrity.
And people worship this guy.
He had no business flying VFR in that soup. I believe when the NTSB report comes out we’ll find that he just drove it into the terrain.
It was definitely IFR, I can see the area from where I am and I was here at 10Am Sunday, Fog and a Low Overcast. They were Scud Running, and from what I have gathered, he flew into a cloud at a low altitude, did a 180, and spatial disorientation took over.
Drove it into the terrain at a high rate of speed. A sad loss of NINE lives.
Died like he lived thinking normal rules don’t apply to him due to wealth fame and celebrity.
And people worship this guy.
—
yup
If you watch the video of the flight, that is exactly the way it looks. The helo stops, hovers, then starts moving at a left angle to the way he was originally going. Then gone.
My money's on "controlled flight into terrain".
The aviation equivalent of plowing into the back of a semi in pea soup fog at full freeway speed, i.e. driving beyond one's ability to see ahead.
“When it struck the ground, the helicopter was flying at about 160 knots (184 mph) and descending at a rate of more than 4000 feet per minute, the data showed.”
The FAA video “You have 178 seconds to live” was aired a lot in 1999 when JFK Jr crashed while in inadvertent instrument flying conditions.
This tragic crash sounds eerily similar. Pilot disoriented in fog and failed to believe his instruments.
“getthereitis”
*************
Thanks for posting that bit of wisdom. It’s something we all need to keep in mind.
yep...he flew into a patch of very heavy fog...panicked, turned South to try and avoid it....and when there was some visibility, he saw a mountain staring him in the face...tried to climb at the last minute, but too late....
They say it hit the ground at over 180 mph. All this to go to a kids basketball game.
Such an advanced helicopter should have aerospace-quality GPS installed, which has a error of accuracy of only just under 2 meters, unlike the under 8 meter error of accuracy of GPS receiving on a consumer-grade GPS map reader or on a cellphone that receives GPS signals. As such, if the pilot had trusted the the GPS receiver, they would have been able to navigate in those mountains without great difficulty.
Old pilots don’t get that way by accident.
“There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.”
Car accidents happen every day, and sometimes it’s folks going to a kids basketball game.
I’m sure this and the rest of it will be scrubbed, if it isn’t already gone.
Watch Saturday Night Live Highlight: Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Are a United Front Cold Open - NBC.com
Duration: 0:03
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/kobe-and-vanessa-bryant-are-a-united-front-cold-open/2872782
“And people worship this guy.”
Got up at 6 a.m. as usual. Turned on FBN as usual. NOT as usual, the “business” news was Kobe Bryant and the Grammy Awards (their tribute to Kobe). Arrrrgh!! When will it end?
I’m sorry he died, and really sorry about his daughter (they looked so happy together), and the others.
I don’t recall this when Billy Graham died, who was instrumental in thousands or millions coming to Christ — or maybe I just missed it.
When word of the crash broke, I watched the live stream of KABC-TV, which is (normally) the #1 local news station in SoCal. Before tossing it to one of their reporters in the field, a female anchor noted the station’s chopper was grounded Sunday morning due to dense fog. KABC’s helicopters are based in Van Nuys, about 15 miles from where Kobe Bryant’s chopper went down.
Anyone who’s ever watched local news from Los Angeles knows that virtually every local channel has a helicopter, and they are a part of branding/coverage on a daily basis. I’m sure KABC wanted their chopper in the air for the Sunday morning news block, but the pilot took a look at conditions and said, “nope, fog is too bad,” and that was the end of the discussion. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be; no matter who’s riding in the back, the pilot in command has the final say. The guy at the controls of that Sikorsky made the wrong call and he took eight more souls with him.
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