[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by Pogue

It appears the helicopter didn’t go down but flew directly into the mountain at a high rate of speed. They passengers likely didn’t know what happened to them.

Kobe was a god in Los Angeles, so this hurts especially with those photos with his Daughter. She had a full life of promise ahead of her, it’s gut wrenching.

Originally Posted by notorious

Looking like CFIT.

It had to be terrifying for the pilot. The passengers probably didn’t have a clue unless the pilot gave away how tense the situation was.

I’ve flown in situations when unforcasted weather moved in, and it is intense. You have to have the guts to make the decision to divert and wait. It’s harder than it sounds.

A very few times in my career I got pushed pretty hard by the passengers to fly into situations that were not safe. I stood my ground and pissed them off, but when people realize they are arguing with a guy that’s trying to save his own life they usually back off.

This pilot might have been pressured into doing something he knew wasn’t safe. Every single pilot with any decent amount of time has experienced this.

Originally Posted by Coyote

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...icopter-safety

Likely. Bad judgment. Guys always say, “ He was a good pilot, right up until....’

Debris field and impact scar point to flying into the earth in controlled flight. Possible mechanical in flight. But probably not transmission, tail rotor or main rotor drive train based on impact/debris. If so ,little time to cut power/ reduce torque off the tail rotor- the cause of violent spinning from that earlier helo crash video.
If loss of power but drive train is functioning. Here’s where the “good pilot stuff” comes in. Again the impact scar doesn’t point to that.

“ Loss of situational awareness led to ground impact resulting in occupiable living space being reduced”

Originally Posted by Coyote

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...0200126/1708ZZ

Flight profile. Linked earlier

Last tracks show climb. Minor descent previously.

Terrain avoidance? Others here know that terrain much better than me. Also points to powered flight.

Some pilots think flying instruments is a near emergency. Some helo guys think IFR equals “I Follow Roads.” We know from the comms that this guy was requesting special Visual flight rules and following roads when the controllers are sequencing IFR traffic, and dealing with a wave off or go around-likely due to weather.

I guess I don’t have much sympathy for the aviating just for Koby, his daughter, and the other occupants.

Originally Posted by Coyote

Sikorsky builds good machines and Koby”s S76 is a solid executive helo.

“The pilot eventually headed north along the 118 freeway before turning to the west, and started following above the 101 freeway around Woodland Hills, CA.

At around 9:40 AM they encounter more weather—as in seriously heavy fog—and the chopper turned south. This was critical, because they turned toward a mountainous area.

The pilot suddenly and rapidly climbed from about 1200 feet up to 2000 feet. However, moments later—around 9:45 AM—they flew into a mountain at 1700 feet. Flight tracker data shows they were flying at about 161 knots.”


https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...be-bryant.html

Originally Posted by notorious

That video is nothing.

Shoot an approach when you have mountainous terrain surrounding you and the ceiling is at minimums.

That will pucker your ass.

Originally Posted by notorious

Slight decent....trying to get under the ceiling to see.

We've all heard stories directly from guys that do this, it's just insane to me.

I can imagine terrain avoidance is worthless when you are that close to the ground, too. Everything would be red.

Reading the posts here, it sounds very similar to what happened to Patsy Cline when she died in a Cessna that flew right into a cliff. Have any of you pilots ever looked at her plane crash? Just curious.