Kobe Bryant and daughter killed in helicopter crash

[Pushead2]

Originally Posted by MephistophelesJanx

The guy is intelligent and his account is detailed.

As someone who is in the aviation field, that man is ex-aviation.

It's not the TWA hat either, but the terminology he's using and the descriptions given.

The whole accident is just heartbreaking.....

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

As someone who is in the aviation field, that man is ex-aviation.

It's not the TWA hat either, but the terminology he's using and the descriptions given.

The whole accident is just heartbreaking.....

He says they were going 3-4 mph? So perhaps they were looking to land but just couldn’t see where?

[Pushead2]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

He says they were going 3-4 mph? So perhaps they were looking to land but just couldn’t see where?

It's possible since it's a helicopter. If the pilot was trying to land though, I would imagine he would have tried to bring the aircraft further down and break through the fog.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

He says they were going 3-4 mph? So perhaps they were looking to land but just couldn’t see where?

Spatial disorientation?

Couldn't see where he was flying so was going slow to wait for clouds/smoke/smog/fog to pass before resuming normal flight?

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

He says they were going 3-4 mph? So perhaps they were looking to land but just couldn’t see where?

From the description, it sounds like he was hunting for the ground; a visual on anything on the ground. A road, a billboard, the overhead lights along a road, anything.

He had to be several hundred feet off the ground if there was no rotor wash effecting the bottom of the cloud cover, which the witness said was around 150 feet. This chopper was big if it could carry 9 people, so I'm guessing at least 300-400 feet off the deck? But surrounded on all sides by mountains/canyon walls. screw that noise.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

He says they were going 3-4 mph? So perhaps they were looking to land but just couldn’t see where?

He said when they were right above him they were going that slow. Probably then accelerated into the side of the mountain.

But why? If you were going slow because you couldn't see, why would you then accelerate to 180+ mph when you still couldn't see? This just doesn't make any sense to me.

And don't they have collision avoidance systems on aircraft for just this sort of thing??

[srvy]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

He said when they were right above him they were going that slow. Probably then accelerated into the side of the mountain.

But why? If you were going slow because you couldn't see, why would you then accelerate to 180+ mph when you still couldn't see? This just doesn't make any sense to me.

And don't they have collision avoidance systems on aircraft for just this sort of thing??

He was probably hovering circling around trying to get bearings or a visual. A 13 million dollar helicopter most likely had a pretty extensive avionics package probably state of the art navigation. Either it failed or he made a serious blunder and flew off in wrong direction that he thought was right considering how hard he hit that hill.

[DeepPurple]

Flying in IFR conditions when your a VFR aircraft is the scariest thing on earth. In 1976 I flew with a co-worker in a Cessna 172 into Tallahassee Florida and all was well and we landed took a break and then departed southeast toward St. Petersburg.

I was flying with a fellow who had been an Army Helicopter pilot and was IFR rated in the military for helicopter, but he was transitioning to fixed wing civil license and he needed to make a trip with 3 legs with each leg 200 miles apart. We had departed Savannah earlier for Tallahassee and now were flying our final leg back to St. Pete.

As we climbed out to about 2000' he went right into the clouds, we were talking to Tallahassee Aproach and I kept hearing aircraft over the frequency calling for landing from the south looking for IFR clearance. We were VFR and climbing in the clouds towards the south, I was feeling very queasy at this point. All I could do was look out at the strobes on the end of each wing tip and see the light bounce off the clouds. He thought we could break through in a few hundred feet. As it turned out, we went to 13,000 feet before we got on top and we also had no oxygen.

I can tell you when we got around Crystal River I was so happy when we started descending and flying in and around the clouds until we were in clear weather below the clouds. It's a trip I never forget.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by DeepPurple

Flying in IFR conditions when your a VFR aircraft is the scariest thing on earth. In 1976 I flew with a co-worker in a Cessna 172 into Tallahassee Florida and all was well and we landed took a break and then departed southeast toward St. Petersburg.

I was flying with a fellow who had been an Army Helicopter pilot and was IFR rated in the military for helicopter, but he was transitioning to fixed wing civil license and he needed to make a trip with 3 legs with each leg 200 miles apart. We had departed Savannah earlier for Tallahassee and now were flying our final leg back to St. Pete.

As we climbed out to about 2000' he went right into the clouds, we were talking to Tallahassee Aproach and I kept hearing aircraft over the frequency calling for landing from the south looking for IFR clearance. We were VFR and climbing in the clouds towards the south, I was feeling very queasy at this point. All I could do was look out at the strobes on the end of each wing tip and see the light bounce off the clouds. He thought we could break through in a few hundred feet. As it turned out, we went to 13,000 feet before we got on top and we also had no oxygen.

I can tell you when we got around Crystal River I was so happy when we started descending and flying in and around the clouds until we were in clear weather below the clouds. It's a trip I never forget.

Crystal River. I've been to that airport a ton.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DeepPurple

Flying in IFR conditions when your a VFR aircraft is the scariest thing on earth. In 1976 I flew with a co-worker in a Cessna 172 into Tallahassee Florida and all was well and we landed took a break and then departed southeast toward St. Petersburg.

I was flying with a fellow who had been an Army Helicopter pilot and was IFR rated in the military for helicopter, but he was transitioning to fixed wing civil license and he needed to make a trip with 3 legs with each leg 200 miles apart. We had departed Savannah earlier for Tallahassee and now were flying our final leg back to St. Pete.

As we climbed out to about 2000' he went right into the clouds, we were talking to Tallahassee Aproach and I kept hearing aircraft over the frequency calling for landing from the south looking for IFR clearance. We were VFR and climbing in the clouds towards the south, I was feeling very queasy at this point. All I could do was look out at the strobes on the end of each wing tip and see the light bounce off the clouds. He thought we could break through in a few hundred feet. As it turned out, we went to 13,000 feet before we got on top and we also had no oxygen.

I can tell you when we got around Crystal River I was so happy when we started descending and flying in and around the clouds until we were in clear weather below the clouds. It's a trip I never forget.

I'm sure this is universal for all pilot training, but when I was doing my lessons, we spent the first several weeks/months with an hour in the classroom mostly learning how to spot/predict weather before we did a 1/2 hour or so going over checklists and another 1/2 hour at most actually flying the plane.

You just know so damn little when doing VFR flying that EVERYTHING has to be planned out and if you can't plan it, just don't fly it.

Then again, I very much doubt Kobe Bryant's pilot lacked any sort of credentials. I'm sure the dude was certified in every conceivable fashion.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

As someone who is in the aviation field, that man is ex-aviation.

It's not the TWA hat either, but the terminology he's using and the descriptions given.

The whole accident is just heartbreaking.....

Definitely. I know all of what he’s saying but there is no way I’d be thinking about it when I heard it.

[Pushead2]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Definitely. I know all of what he’s saying but there is no way I’d be thinking about it when I heard it.

Yeah, I'd imagine that's the hindsight for him and commenting on it.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

Yeah, I'd imagine that's the hindsight for him and commenting on it.

Right. But I wouldn’t be thinking about whether or not there was rotor wash at the time to pay attention to what I saw. Or the sound. I wouldn’t have paid that much attention.

[Pushead2]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Right. But I wouldn’t be thinking about whether or not there was rotor wash at the time to pay attention to what I saw. Or the sound. I wouldn’t have paid that much attention.

If he was MX or maybe ATC, he MIGHT be paying attention to the sound, but you're most likely right.