Kobe Bryant and daughter killed in helicopter crash

[Eleazar]

No warranty on this, but it's on TMZ.

https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/26/kobe-...-in-calabasas/

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by DeepPurple

Looking at his route, the 101 that he was suppose to be following will take him right to Camarillo Airport. Why he would stray away from his ground landmark in such a hilly environment. On the tapes I can hear them restrict him to 2500 feet or below, it doesn't make sense that he would stray off course in such an environment unless he had total spatial disorientation. He basically was in IFR weather and lost ground contact, sort of like John Kennedy Jr. flying VFR at night in clear weather but over water. They can't tell what's up from down and the inner ear plays tricks. You would think a commercial pilot even in a helicopter would be instrument rated. If that is the case, they would of cleared them to 4 or 5,000 feet and put them on a heading and most likely would of been above the fog at that altitude anyway.

I think it's a totally differnt ball game in IFR; so going from VFR ( his plan) to IFR (unplanned) in an instant (or in a very short amount of time) yikes. I'm sure he was instrument rated but this scenario probably happened so fast it didn't matter. But, I'm not a pilot...so, that's my WAG. probably went from flying VFR, 'cool, no problem' to "crap...I can't see anything and I don't know where I'm at" and that's when things/problems started cascading into bigger ones.


what a bummer of an event.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

He may have thought Los Virgenes Road was the 101 through the fog and it pulled him off course.

[Coyote]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Pure Speculation on my part, but here is a possibility that might explain the descent thing.

I mentioned before that my friend loaned their plane to a dude that wrecked it. Here's the story on that. He was flying VFR to Manhattan and hit some unexpected localized heavy fog. Tower had him change his pattern, then he tried to switch to IFR (which I think he and the plane were rated for) but he was alone, trying to navigate, switching to IFR in an unfamiliar plane, and got disoriented. He got to going pretty much straight down, and when he came through the fog, he was going way too fast to have any shot at pulling up.

It's possible he got disoriented or got distracted doing something different and lost track of his shit.

Again, pure speculation, but it's what happened to the guy from my town. And I know planes aren't copters, but it's a possibility.

We’re all just speculating of course. I think the same. I keep harping on collective position at impact as telling of what he was thinking. If it is near full up, he has a handful of collective and power trying to climb or go faster.

Contrary to the lower, slower gameplan logic. He may have been trying to avoid the ground in a rush or it combined with the stick position may point to disorientation from the inadvertent IMC in a turn.

My similar earlier comment from an Osprey mishap I once chaired remains for me:

“Loss of situational awareness led to ground impact resulting in unoccupiable living space.” Very engineer like to describe the deaths which in the mishap chain started with the basic bad judgment to fly with that SVFR gameplan in those conditions.

[38yrsfan]

Condolences to the grieving. Lots of aircraft deaths this past week.

Gravity thou art a heartless bitch.

[dirk digler]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/us/ca...day/index.html

In his final transmission, the pilot of a helicopter that crashed, killing nine people including NBA legend Kobe Bryant, told air traffic control he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.When air traffic control asked the pilot what he planned to do, there was no reply, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy told reporters.

The last radar contact was around 9:45 a.m. (12:45 p.m. ET) Sunday, she said.

Radar data indicated the helicopter climbed 2,300 feet and began a left descending turn, she said.

The NTSB, which is investigating the cause of the crash, detailed the helicopter's final moments before it crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California, under foggy conditions. Visibility was so low Sunday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department grounded its helicopters, department spokesman Josh Rubenstein said.

The crash impact broke the helicopter into pieces, creating a debris field stretching about 500 to 600 feet, according to Homendy.

"There is (an) impact area on one of the hills and a piece of the tail is down the hill, on the left side of the hill," she said. "The fuselage is over on the other side of that hill, and then the main rotor is about 100 yards beyond that."

When asked about any chance for survival, Homendy said: "It was a pretty devastating accident scene."

The pilot's final correspondence

Homendy said initial information indicates the helicopter was flying under visual flight rules from John Wayne Airport, in Orange County, to just southeast of Burbank Airport.

Around Burbank, the pilot requested to fly under special visual flight rules, Homendy said. An SVFR clearance allows a pilot to fly in weather conditions worse than those allowed for regular visual flight rules (VFR).
Pilots can request SVFR clearance before takeoff or during the flight, especially if conditions suddenly change, CNN transportation analyst Peter Goelz said.

While SVFR clearance is "pretty normal," he said, "it's not something that's often recommended."

If granted SVFR clearance, the pilot will typically keep tighter communication with air traffic control.

During the pilot's conversation with air traffic control, they advised the pilot there was a delay due to traffic, Homendy said.

She said the helicopter circled for 12 minutes until air traffic control approved the special visual flight rules.

Homendy said the helicopter flew in the Burbank and Van Nuys airspace at 1,400 feet, heading south and then west.

The pilot requested flight following, which is radar assistance for a flight that helps the pilot avoid traffic, to continue to Camarillo, she said, But air traffic control said the helicopter was too low to provide flight following assistance, she said.

About four minutes later, the pilot said he was climbing to avoid the cloud layer, she said.

Homendy said the crash created a crater at 1,085 feet above sea level.

The pilot of the helicopter was Ara Zobayan, according a former colleague at the Island Express helicopter company and a neighbor.

Kurt Deetz, a pilot who worked at Island Express with Zobayan, said he would trust Zobayan to fly him.

Zobayan's neighbor, Robert Sapia, said Zobayan loved his job and would show him photos of the celebrities he would fly around, including Bryant.

Zobayan was an instrument-certified pilot who earned his commercial pilot's license in 2007, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's pilot certification database.

He was also a certified flight instructor for instrument instruction for helicopter pilots, the records show. The database also shows Zobayan was up to date on FAA-required annual medical exams.

Homendy said Zobayan had a commercial certificate and was a certified flight instructor who had 8,200 hours of flight time as of July 2019, she said.

[Coyote]

“Radar data indicated the helicopter climbed 2,300 feet and began a left descending turn, she said.”

If climbing to VFR on top (An IFR clearance common there with low clouds/fog just or to IFR handling, it seems loss of orientation/situational awareness/vertigo, etc.
But a transition from his gameplan. Likely too late and in extreme conditions/thoughts/actions.

[The Franchise]

My wife Vanessa got me the best Christmas gift ever. Thank you @GRRMspeaking #muse #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/7XgS4rWwDA

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) December 25, 2016

God damnt, Martin.

[Eleazar]

Quick thanks to whatever mod was managing the subject line of this thread. I originally posted it as "Kobe Bryant rumors" because I didn't want to jump the gun and only a tabloid (TMZ) was reporting the story. But some goodhearted mod managed it to reflect the facts as they changed throughout the day to avoid misleading anyone or presenting info that was out of date. Fine work.

[eDave]

Kobe Bryant and wife Vanessa had pact to ‘never fly on a helicopter together’

...the Los Angeles Lakers legend would “only” fly in choppers flown by pilot Ara Zobayan, who was at the controls in the crash Sunday that left him, Bryant and seven others dead Sunday.

https://nypost.com/2020/01/28/kobe-b...rce=reddit.com

[Deberg_1990]

Sounding more and more like a preventable tragedy.

I wonder how much pressure the pilot was under to get these people in the air? Why didn’t he just say no?

[DJ's left nut]

uuuuggggghhhhhhhh

"I would have 5 more girls if I could. I'm a girl dad."@elleduncanESPN's story about how much Kobe loved his daughters is something special. pic.twitter.com/1KJx17QRjY

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 28, 2020

Having daughters is just different, man...

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I wonder how much pressure the pilot was under to get these people in the air? Why didn’t he just say no?

Because Kobe was a bad teammate.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

uuuuggggghhhhhhhh

"I would have 5 more girls if I could. I'm a girl dad."@elleduncanESPN's story about how much Kobe loved his daughters is something special. pic.twitter.com/1KJx17QRjY

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 28, 2020

Having daughters is just different, man...

Yeah, I watched that earlier and it hit hard. Kobe is the star but Gigi, and the other two girls that died, are the worst part of this whole thing.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Yeah, I watched that earlier and it hit hard. Kobe is the star but Gigi, and the other two girls that died, are the worst part of this whole thing.

I don't really tear up. Empathy ain't my bag.

But yeah, got misty there.

[TimeForWasp]

grabbed from facebook.