We have a family member that is one of the private Pilots for the Walmart execs. He flies them all over the world

He talks about how underprepared people always are for what they get into flying wise

I feel their jobs require them to fly so often, and its considered the safest transportation and its convenient to be in Texas in the morning and California at night

Heard it on Chicago news radio.

Now that I think we can dismiss the rumors about his daughter's, absolutely not.

I was talking to some friends just a few days ago about how I would never get on a helicopter if it’s up to me. I just hear about this shit way too often with famous people, let alone any normal person.

Man I could cry and I don’t even watch much basketball. It is that sad.

RIP Kobe. His final NBA game is one of my favorite sporting events I've watched.

So often it's the smaller aircrafts, too. I'd be interested in seeing the data on how much more dangerous smaller aircrafts tend to be than larger commercial.

A couple of times when I was 18 or 19, a friend I went to high school with had his pilots license. One engine airplane. He used to fly us up to a casino in Minnesota because if you flew in they would give you a free buffet and $100 to play. Would never do that today.

One of his daughters was reportedly on board.

From the TMZ update:

Flying isn’t, but taking off and landing is

This. Just terrible.

Yeah. Now confirming 13yo. Now I am worried with them not confirming the other girls alive.

Headed to the girls basketball game. Who would travel with them? Assistants? Friends?

Well shit.

If you have trouble on a plane it might be able to land safely. But if the rotors stop on a chopper it just turns into a falling rock.

This article is a bit old, but it claims 7 accidents per 100,000 flight hours for general aviation vs. 0.16 for commercial.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/o...te-Planes.html

How did TMZ end up as the most accurate news source we have?

Democrats have ruined everything else

I am assuming other names not released to contact their families. Because if all of them were Bryant's it would be posted?

They have a lot of sources around LA, so not too surprised.

Patsy Cline, Randy Rhodes....


The guy I've worked with for the last 25 years has his pilot license and owns a Cessna 182. He has used it for years to go out to some of our remote job sites. The plane was built in 1967 and it terrifies me to ride in it. I know that they keep up on the maintenance but you can bet some of the innards are really getting up there in age and stress.

He doesn't fly as much now but still goes out 5-6 times a year. He's also 67 now so I have a pretty serious "No Fly" policy.

This is the daughter. Unimaginable. This clip of Kobe talking basketball with her was going viral just a few weeks ago. Absolutely ****ing awful. I don’t usually get hit hard by celebrity deaths, but the idea of a father and daughter with such a clear bond perishing together, with SO much life in front of each of them is just so tough to take.

Kiss your wife, hug your children, call your mom and dad. You never know when it’s all gonna end.

RIP Mamba

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...2/326/kobe.jpg

That's awful.
Damnit....

Auto-rotation is supposed to help, but all too often it doesn’t seem to help at all

Stop.

Once again it goes to show just how fragile and fleeting life is.....guy had everyone he could ask for yet all gone.

Really sad on so many levels, even for non-followers of the NBA.

His father was my basketball coach for a game in the 70's at Pocono Invitational Basketball Camp in PA. Really cool guy.

So sorry for his family.

If you have trouble, it's notably more risky to go from one engine to zero than it is to go from two engines to one.

Plus, I figure pilot experience is probably a big differentiator.

Exactly.

It takes maybe a dozen flight hours to be able to fly in ideal conditions. Even landings aren't that tough (and take-offs are a day 2 thing).

But so many private pilots just aren't prepared for adversity. And really, the difference between redundancies on commercial craft vs. private are so enormous.

Flight's simple - lift + velocity. Wings and a motor = flying. Flight surfaces are laughably rudimentary; just redirecting air to steer. So stuff like ultralights are as simple (in many ways more simple) than an economy car.

Commercial craft have the long-term viability chuck hundreds of thousands of dollars in redundancy into and they easily pay for themselves. But to make a commercially viable private aircraft that has those kinds of backup systems is prohibitively expensive for most.

And frankly on a helicopter it's just borderline impossible. Think of how many of those tend to go down in war due to mechanical difficulties. They're just so damn complicated that any kind of system failure is borderline catastrophic.

Like I said - I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often more than anything. It's an inherently dangerous activity.

What blows my mind is that our government for decades has used a helicopter to take the President from the White House to the airport. If I was President, I would refuse to ever step in the helicopter. They can drive me to the airport. Might be slower, but safer IMHO.

Reminds me of John Denver.

Yeah, I've read that helicopters can be surprisingly survivable because of that. Obviously not in every case, though.

That picture above hurts real bad. God damn.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Kobe Bryant was on his way to a travel basketball game with his daughter Gianna when the helicopter crashed. Those aboard the helicopter also included another player and parent.</p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1221537476893925376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ours was a 172 w/ an engine conversion to give it the guts of a 182. And yeah, built in the late 60s, early 70s.

I never felt unsafe on it; we didn't **** around with safety or maintenance. Any flight that might encounter weather was just scrubbed and the hearing continued. But I had an instructor who put us through some adversity paces and do shit like surreptitiously kill the motor without telling us. And that rattled the hell out of me.

It wasn't hard to convince me to walk away because as comfortable as I am w/ vehicles, I knew I was lying to myself when I'd say I was ready for real adversity. The 'carb heater' trick and the like would just rattle me more than I'd expect.

We wasted all the flight training and took a bath on the sale, but nobody really cared at that point. Someone was going to be killed or seriously injured at some point so it was the right decision. I haven't been on a light aircraft since and really don't expect that I will be again.

Juice just isn't worth the squeeze.

Awful.

RIP Kobe.

Choppers are just inherently dangerous, instead of gliding through the air they beat it to death

**** man.

My first job out of college was documenting all the ways a plane could crash. I don't really feel comfortable on single engine things that fly.

Granted, my job assumed that something hostile was hitting the plane, but the cause is irrelevant.

13 year old daughter Giaunna (sp?) was onboard

Very sad and a tragedy, especially since one of his children was on board.

The POTUS flies an osprey now. Pretty ****ing awe inspiring when you're stuck in DC traffic and see a squad of those things buzz your car.

But RIP to Bryant and his daughter. Words cannot describe the shock and despair that family must be going through right now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tion_accidents

I dont understand why rich people continue to fly small aircraft..it might be convenient but it seems like its only a matter of time before you go down

Wow. Even deeper knowing who was on board and where they were going. Condolences to the other player, the parent and their family as well. Just awful.

Back in the early 90’s we took a family trip to D.C. and one day we stumbled across this military... I don’t know what to call it exactly, exhibition for lack of a better word. “Fan fest” maybe. We played tic tac toe with a Navy SEAL who was in a water tank to give you an idea. Anyway, there was a Blackhawk parked there and people would stand in line to sit in the co-pilot seat and have the pilot give you some info on it and answer any questions you might have. One of my questions as I was looking around was, “Where are the parachutes?” I was informed there weren’t any because helicopters were designed to magically (not his words) land safely in case of a failure. Even at the naive young age of roughly 10-11 years old I wasn’t sure how much I believed that or trusted the system in place.

Rick Fox too?

No. The 5 were:

The pilot, Kobe, his daughter Gigi, and a Father and daughter (who played on Kobe’s basketball team with Gigi).

A friend of mine survived a small chopper crash last spring in Montana....he still has nightmares.

By the way it wasn't the fog or the pilot apparently. There was a fire in the helicopter that caused the crash according to TMZ

I read it only said "another parent and player" that doesn't necessarily mean that the parent/player were on the same team as Kobe's daughter.

Rick Fox has a 20 year old daughter, it could have been a tournament they were all going to? Just saying.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Heartbreaking. <a href="https://t.co/IOonG6asYQ">https://t.co/IOonG6asYQ</a></p>&mdash; Lindsay Shively (@LindsayShively) <a href="https://twitter.com/LindsayShively/status/1221542155405185031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Woke up from a nap, checked phone and saw this.

Unbelievable

Again I think it was Kobe/daughter/ Kobe's friend Rick Fox and his 20 year old daughter, and the pilot

Not Rick Fox, unconfirmed

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have personally communicated with Rick Fox via text since the news about Kobe dying came out PLEASE STOP spreading “news” unless you personally can confirm it!</p>&mdash; Jared Greenberg (@JaredSGreenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/JaredSGreenberg/status/1221532759480512514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This is so horrible. His poor family...and the family of the other two. Watching Jim Hill crying on air (Long-time CBS sports guy) is rough.

This hurts.

Not a fan of basketball, and have never paid any attention to the NBA, but it's always a shock seeing someone younger than me die, and for it to be like this, along with a kid, and leaving a wife and 3 other kids behind? That's just...I don't even have words.

Lesson there, I guess, is to live our lives to the fullest, because it can end in an instant.

I don't think that was even ever alleged.

It’s not the end of the world if the Chiefs lose on Sunday. At the end of the day it’s just a football game.

I’d been getting anxious and nervous these last couple days, but this is as tragic and sobering a reminder as any that it ultimately doesn’t matter at all.

Absolutely awful news. So sad.

Between this and ABCs covering up for all things Epstein.
The Company should be burned to the ground

If you’re my age (early 30’s) or close, you lost a part of your childhood today.

Man I remember watching those Shaq-Kobe team dominate. They had some of the best moments in NBA history. Watching Kobe transition from being the second guy on those teams to being the man was something to behold.

He was truly an iconic player.

I think this has to be the biggest young celebrity death since John Lennon. Kobe was a massive star overseas in places like China and Europe.

The timing of this is so crazy. Lots of Kobe memories and coverage this week with LeBron passing him on the scoring list.

Cant even imagine the feeling of helplessness when something like that happens

Devastating news. Be thankful for what you have, you never know when the last time you'll see them is. RIP Kobe and everyone else on that flight.

Not true. Already reported

While obviously a relatively trivial matter, I wonder if the NFL changes anything in terms of tone, etc for tomorrow’s planned Super Bowl Opening Night/Media Day.

So there’s a video on twitter of the helicopter going down apparently

I’m not watching that shit

Damn

Out!

Good post.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There’s no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice Gigi &amp; my brother <a href="https://twitter.com/kobebryant?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kobebryant</a> I love u and u will be missed. My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW <a href="https://t.co/pigHywq3c1">pic.twitter.com/pigHywq3c1</a></p>&mdash; SHAQ (@SHAQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/SHAQ/status/1221549914766954496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

that's why I said i think. :doh!:

Not a huge NBA fan, but I liked Kobe. He had a lot of class.

I lift a glass to you and hope you are in a better place.

Figures we have waited for our whole lives to make a super bowl and now it’s going to be nothing but Kobe talk

Of course there ****ing is.

Nope.

It'll die down by next weekend. You can bet all the players are going to be asked to comment on it though.

Horrible. He leaves a wonderful family. He was so proud of his girl, you could just see it. RIP.

I really feel for his widow. She has to be very strong for those 3 girls.

Luckily, I’m sure she’ll have a strong support system around her.

The week before Super Bowl IV, a story came out that Len Dawson was involved with shaving points for gamblers and the mob. It wasn't true, but it was a huge distraction. The team had a meeting about it, Lenny told them it was all BS, and they got back to biz. Things happen. World has a short attention span.

Well this seems a little selfish..

To your point about going at any minute.

Luke 12:13-21 -

13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”


Hopefully Kobe truly "knew" Jesus in a personal way as opposed to just "knowing about him" never really giving his life to Jesus. Big difference and why Scripture say's "Today is the day of Salvation" for tomorrow is not guaranteed.