TMZ Reports.. Kobe Bryant Killed In Crash!!! RIP KOBE! May god watch over your family! You and Gigi will always be loved! (1 Viewer)

[LuvNOLA]

Well, as more information about the final moments come to light it appears that the helicopter was no longer in level flight but in fact was descending at a rate of approximately 4000 ft per minute at the moment impact. The crash was said to have left a partial crater near the peak of that ridge. The data is beginning to lead to the conclusion that the pilot was experiencing spatial disorientation and may have been completely unaware of his attitude and direction of flight. If this is indeed accurate, then it really doesn't matter how close the impact was to the top of that hill. Without a significant amount of distance between the base of the cloud and the terrain, when he emerged from the cloud bank at the speed and angle the helicopter was flying, the crash was imminent and unavoidable.

Thanks!

The helicopter was in 1000 different pieces, spread all over the mountain & they are airlifting the pieces out by helicopter, to examine them somewhere else. Thankfully, though, it sounds like when they recovered the 9 bodies, they were all intact.

 

[LuvNOLA]

It's being reported there was no terrain sensor on the helicopter.

Have you heard what the terrain sensor sounds like??? It is some wimpy little lady’s voice, “warning you are approaching terrain, warning you are approaching terrain.” ?????!!!!!

It is so lame, I don’t know how they could even heard it, much less have it be effective.

 

[Bill]

That sounds scary as hell........makes your “guts move into your britches” just reading it. ?

That sounds exactly like what happened to JFK Jr, when his plane went down in the ocean.

Keep in mind that even though my few moments of disorientation began very similarly to what happened to JFK Jr., it is likely that he was lost in the clouds and was never able to right his aircraft and return to an area below the lowering cloud layer that he flew into. His accident was much more similar to the Bryant's S-76 crash in that both of those flights (assuming that both are classic cases of spatial disorientation) had very little clear space between the zero visibility they were in and the surface below them.

As a VFR pilot only, JFK Jr. would have been much less familiar or accustomed to controlling his aircraft on instruments alone. However the S-76 pilot likely had many flights in low-to-zero visibility. Once he became disoriented, JFK Jr. allowed his aircraft to exceed the Saratoga's Vne limits. (Vne = the 'never exceed' speed of that model) This resulted in a dive that literally caused the aircraft to break apart in flight. However, as we saw with the S-76 incident, even a seasoned IFR pilot can be susceptible to losing control due to the sensations of flying in zero visibility. Of course the jury is still out on the actual cause of the helicopter crash. But I personally am expecting an eventual report that will include spatial disorientation as (at least) part of the reason for the crash.

But we'll have to wait and see for sure.

 

[Saint Kamara]

It's possible the kids don't have fingerprints on record so they'll have to do secondary methods of identification. I'm not recalling the numbers. I was thinking 6 adults and 3 kids or 5 and 4?

And just missing by 20-30 feet is ugh! I'm really wanting to see the outcome and conclusions drawn from the investigation.

But the way they described the end of that flight it was inevitable they were going to hit terrain eventually cuz they appeared to be in a rather steep decline at 184 miles an hour.

So why is it flying at that high a rate of speed if the fog was that bad ?

 

[DaveXA]

But the way they described the end of that flight it was inevitable they were going to hit terrain eventually cuz they appeared to be in a rather steep decline at 184 miles an hour.

Yeah, I saw that. I realize it wouldn't have mattered where on the hill it hit. I was just thinking that had he realized that he was high enough, maybe it doesn't go into a stall/dive.

 

[Bill]

Yeah, I saw that. I realize it wouldn't have mattered where on the hill it hit. I was just thinking that had he realized that he was high enough, maybe it doesn't go into a stall/dive.

There is no indication that the helicopter was in any sort of aerodynamic stall. The pilot may have simply (and unknowingly) started making a descending left turn without realizing it in time to correct it. That's really what spatial disorientation does to a pilot. His perception may have been that he was still in the steady climb that he had started prior to crossing over the 101. It may have even been a temporary and puzzling distraction to him to look at his airspeed indicator and try to understand why it was indicating over 180 mph when he assumed he was in a climb.

Sometimes a disoriented pilot can take a few critical moments trying to make sense of instrument readings that don't make sense. They may even spend time trying to determine if the instrument is faulty because the readings are so unexpected. Even at the increasing airspeed, he still may not have had the sensation of flying earthward. Gravity has a way of increasing your airspeed very quickly once the aircraft starts flying toward the ground. Just imagine the doubt and mental confusion if his mind was still telling him that he was in a climb.

 

[Saint Kamara]

Ugh.

 

[Saint Kamara]

Kobe texted Shaq's son just after 7 a.m. to check on how he was doing. Shaq's son was diagnosed with some kind of heart abnormality I think at some point last year. Shaq's son didn't wake up until almost 11.

 

[Madmarsha]

Well, as more information about the final moments come to light it appears that the helicopter was no longer in level flight but in fact was descending at a rate of approximately 4000 ft per minute at the moment impact. The crash was said to have left a partial crater near the peak of that ridge.

Wow.

 

[Bill]

This is probably the case. A case of poor decision making.

There is very little doubt that some bad decisions were made along the flight path of the S-76.
Perhaps the worst was to leave Santa Ana in the first place while the rest of the area was keeping their VFR flights on the ground. But this pilot was not the first to make such a deadly decision. On Saturday 15 April 1978, one of the most famous Hollywood stunt pilots, Frank Tallman was making a routine ferry flight in a twin-engine Piper Aztec from Santa Monica Airport, California, to Phoenix, Arizona under visual flight rules when he continued the flight into deteriorating weather, a lowering ceiling and rain. He struck the side of Santiago Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains near Trabuco Canyon at cruising altitude, and died in the ensuing crash.

 

[Bill]

Wow.

That sounds like a lot of speed... but remember that this rate of descent was only for a matter of seconds. We're only talking a few hundred feet or so.

 

[Madmarsha]

There is very little doubt that some bad decisions were made along the flight path of the S-76.
Perhaps the worst was to leave Santa Ana in the first place while the rest of the area was keeping their VFR flights on the ground. But this pilot was not the first to make such a deadly decision. On Saturday 15 April 1978, one of the most famous Hollywood stunt pilots, Frank Tallman was making a routine ferry flight in a twin-engine Piper Aztec from Santa Monica Airport, California, to Phoenix, Arizona under visual flight rules when he continued the flight into deteriorating weather, a lowering ceiling and rain. He struck the side of Santiago Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains near Trabuco Canyon at cruising altitude, and died in the ensuing crash.

This makes me think of Nancy Parker and the crash in that stunt plane with an obviously very experienced pilot.
I haven't seen a lot on that lately. Has that report been out?

 

[Bill]

This makes me think of Nancy Parker and the crash in that stunt plane with an obviously very experienced pilot.
I haven't seen a lot on that lately. Has that report been out?

Not yet, but I'm sure a lot will be discussed on the local news channels when the NTSB gives the final report.

 

[LuvNOLA]

There is very little doubt that some bad decisions were made along the flight path of the S-76.
Perhaps the worst was to leave Santa Ana in the first place while the rest of the area was keeping their VFR flights on the ground. But this pilot was not the first to make such a deadly decision. On Saturday 15 April 1978, one of the most famous Hollywood stunt pilots, Frank Tallman was making a routine ferry flight in a twin-engine Piper Aztec from Santa Monica Airport, California, to Phoenix, Arizona under visual flight rules when he continued the flight into deteriorating weather, a lowering ceiling and rain. He struck the side of Santiago Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains near Trabuco Canyon at cruising altitude, and died in the ensuing crash.

I also heard one guy say, “why did Kobe even get into that helicopter”?????!!!!! However, marine layer & fog is so common, that Kobe probably flew in weather like that, many times before.

If you watched any of the Farmers golf tournament, recently at Torrey Pines, which is just south of Santa Ana......they demonstrated how the weather in that area can change on a dime. In the morning everything looked clear & beautiful with the paragliding folks out flying. In the afternoon the fog was thick as soup, and everything looked ugly. Players had very little visibility, could not see where the ball was going etc.

 

[LuvNOLA]

That sounds like a lot of speed... but remember that this rate of descent was only for a matter of seconds. We're only talking a few hundred feet or so.

And for those few seconds, I hope the 9 passengers did not feel terrorized.