Kobe Bryant passes in helicopter crash

[IndyHawk]

RIP to all nine who died in that tragic crash..
It's sad that anyone no matter who they are had to go that way.

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

Since the Sonics left, I’ve adopted the Lakers as my team.

Kobe has been one of my favorite players, athletes, of all-time.

It’s definitely seems unreal to me, for him and his daughter to have died.

We don’t know who was all onboard yet but condolences and prayers go out to all on board that has fallen and their families.

An undeniable tragedy.

Gone too soon but will not be forgotten.

Rest In Peace, Kobe and Gianna.

Kobe forever!

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

The LA Times has turned off its paywall today for Kobe coverage.

A story plus the links can be found here:

https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... pilot-said

 

[KitsapGuy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/_dawnmontgomery/status/1221683459212611584[/tweet]

 

[2_0_6]

The more and more I am reading about this through various sources, the more it sounds like they shouldn't have been flying due to the weather conditions and maybe got a tad bit overconfident in the technology the Helo had.. Truly sad for everyone and their families that perished.

Yesterday will be one of those times I will always remember what I was doing and where I was when i heard the news.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

The more and more I am reading about this through various sources, the more it sounds like they shouldn't have been flying due to the weather conditions and maybe got a tad bit overconfident in the technology the Helo had.. Truly sad for everyone and their families that perished.

Yesterday will be one of those times I will always remember what I was doing and where I was when i heard the news.

LAPD and LA Sheriffs had grounded their own helicopters in the area at the time due to fog per LATimes, ESPN and several others.

This kind of info needs to be made available to private pilots beforehand. This one was a highly regarded flight instructor, the only one that Kobe trusted enough to fly with. If that person had known that even first responders declined to fly in those conditions, maybe he might have followed suit.

 

[Cyrus12]

Apparently the pilot was given clearance to fly. It's kind of sounding more and more like they flew into the hillside as opposed to a mechanical issue.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.co ... index.html

 

[ivotuk]

It was the Pilot's responsibility to check the weather and the forecast. If other pilots were not flying, he would have had access to that information through pilot reports.

They also said that he circled one area for 15 minutes, then continued on, all of a sudden climbing quickly before hitting a mountain at 1600 feet.

MHO, after being a pilot in Alaska for 20 years, he got caught in the weather, in uneven terrain, lost ground contact, and started climbing trying to get above the weather but hit the hillside at 150+ knots.

I've had that happen to me before, scud running when all of a sudden it goes right to the ground. You turn around, and it's closed in behind you. Your only choice is to climb out on top, which usually isn't very far on a foggy day in Northern Alaska. You bust out on top at a couple hundred or a thousand feet, the sun is shining, and off you go. Hoping that there's a hole through the clouds at your destination.

Thing is, most of my scud running was done in flat, or low terrain. 1200 feet ASL was the highest, and you could get on top of that fairly quickly.

I feel bad for them, the families, and the pilot's family. People always say "Pilot error." And maybe it was, but passengers will really push sometimes, having no idea how dangerous it is, and when you have a relationship with the passenger, you find yourself trying to make them happy.

But it's kind of like raising your kids, and as much as you want to make them happy, you've got to put your foot down, because this is your area of expertise, not their's.

The NTSB is really good at finding the cause of a crash. I used to read them all the time to find out what killed others, and try to avoid it. It was usually pretty simple, ego and weather. Got most of them.

 

[2_0_6]

Its been documented several times in the past, that this pilot had climbed to several thousand feet then shut off the engines to scare the passengers at the request of Kobe. The lure of money will make people do out of character things at times.

 

[ivotuk]

That's just crazy. I think maybe instead of shutting off the engine, he may have dumped the collective, letting the helicopter free fall.

The Sikorsky S-76B I believe it was, has turbine engines, and you don't just shut those off and restart them. That's dangerous as there are a lot of things that can go wrong on a restart, and helicopters don't glide real well with no engine. You can still auto-rotate, and land, if you're in level terrain and good weather conditions.

After reading an article just now, it sounds like the pilot got vertigo, which is very easy to do in weather. It's worse in helicopters because they are inherently unstable. That's why IFR helos have auto pilot.

"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. It then descended and crashed into the hillside at about 1400 feet, 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."

https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2020/0 ... -choppers/

4000 feet per minute descent is extreme! That's a helicopter that is out of control.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Apparently the pilot was given clearance to fly. It's kind of sounding more and more like they flew into the hillside as opposed to a mechanical issue.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.co ... index.html

Same thing happened to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the same conditions. No way in hell I'd get into a copter in fog.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

This is from a helicopter pilot who breaks down exactly what instruments are in this helicopter and their limitations in fog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cttx236mUIE

tl;dr: The instrumentation doesn't necessarily work that well when dealing with ground conditions you can't see. And if you want to climb up, the heli still has to maintain forward speed through this process. From what witnesses said, it smacked right into the hill just at cloud cover.

@ivotuk, especially interested in your reaction from a pilot standpoint.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

Mod edit: This isn't necessary at this time

 

[KitsapGuy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Q13FOX/status/1221879604308336642[/tweet]

The tectonic news, which the celebrity-gossip website was first to report, swept the nation as other news organizations quickly confirmed the story.

It also upset police who suggested the speed in which TMZ had reported the news — a little more than an hour after police said they received reports of a downed aircraft — outpaced that of officers who were seeking to notify the family members of victims.

During a press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva took a swipe at the website when explaining to reporters why he would not yet confirm the identities of those who were aboard the helicopter when it crashed.

“It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one … perished and you learn about it from TMZ,” Villanueva said. “That is just wholly inappropriate.”

Los Angeles County Undersheriff Tim Murakami also jabbed TMZ in a tweet.

“I am saddened that I was gathering facts as a media outlet reported … Kobe had passed,” Murakami wrote. “I understand getting the scoop but please allow us time to make personal notifications to their loved ones. It’s very cold to hear of the loss via media. Breaks my heart.”

A representative for TMZ, which is owned by WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent company, did not respond on Sunday to requests for comment.

https://q13fox.com/2020/01/27/police-sc ... ce=twitter

 

[Jville]

[youtube]cttx236mUIE[/youtube]

 

[Cyrus12]

Could definitely tell from the length of the debris field that it was not a simple up and down crash. Looked more like an airplane crash and did look as though it was at a high speed. The passengers unlikely knew what has happening g until impact.

 

[KitsapGuy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/KevOnStage/status/1221825638396391427[/tweet]

 

[IndyHawk]

That's just crazy. I think maybe instead of shutting off the engine, he may have dumped the collective, letting the helicopter free fall. The Sikorsky S-76B I believe it was, has turbine engines, and you don't just shut those off and restart them. That's dangerous as there are a lot of things that can go wrong on a restart, and helicopters don't glide real well with no engine. You can still auto-rotate, and land, if you're in level terrain and good weather conditions.

After reading an article just now, it sounds like the pilot got vertigo, which is very easy to do in weather. It's worse in helicopters because they are inherently unstable. That's why IFR helos have auto pilot.

"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. It then descended and crashed into the hillside at about 1400 feet, 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."

https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2020/0 ... -choppers/

4000 feet per minute descent is extreme! That's a helicopter that is out of control.

What is the collective?
Another witness said he heard sputtering before the crash..
Does this indicate engine shutoff>failed to restart?

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

So regarding TMZ,

Their whole business model is being first to the scoop. To put it out there. That's their job, and one that's made them valuable enough to be acquired by a media conglomerate.

Rather than be enraged that they did it, consider that someone had to tell TMZ this, and whoever it was, was verified as an authoritative source on the subject. If this was disclosed inappropriately, the blame should be on who disclosed it to a site dedicated to disseminating it.

 

[JGfromtheNW]

So regarding TMZ,

Their whole business model is being first to the scoop. To put it out there. That's their job, and one that's made them valuable enough to be acquired by a media conglomerate.

Rather than be enraged that they did it, consider that someone had to tell TMZ this, and whoever it was, was verified as an authoritative source on the subject. If this was disclosed inappropriately, the blame should be on who disclosed it to a site dedicated to disseminating it.

Agreed. One other thought here is there are apps like FlightRadar24 that will show aircrafts in the sky, their registration numbers, flight paths, departure/arrival locations, etc. I wonder if someone was tracking the helicopter knowing it was Kobe's and was able to get out ahead of any type of official investigation or something of that nature.

Super sad story. I've never been much of a basketball fan, but it's hard to look past Kobe's legacy and what he meant to the game and the world. Absolutely heartbreaking that one of his daughters, two other players and parents and coaches were also on board. RIP.