The last flight of Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles Times,
by
Joe Mozingo*
Original Article
Posted By: NorthernDog,
1/28/2020 9:41:17 AM
A light fog had settled on the runway of John Wayne Airport Sunday morning when Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and six other passengers boarded a chartered helicopter to fly to a basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks. A half-hour later, they were flying over thickening clouds in the San Fernando Valley. The pilot was worried enough to ask flight controllers to keep track of them. As he approached the hills of Calabasas at 150 miles per hour, they radioed him, telling him he was too low for them to see on radar.
The pilot commenced a climb, rising 765 feet
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 1/28/2020 9:54:30 AM (No. 300339)
It still appears the pilot got lost and disoriented. If you don't often fly ILS and not regularly trained for it, you can't instinctively fly on instruments when you need to. Judging by the video, it appears he flew the chopper straight into the hillside and at high speed. I can only hope that mechanical failure was a factor, but, not so sure now.
7 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
pros7767 1/28/2020 10:08:26 AM (No. 300358)
Regardless of what happened or why, it is a massive tragedy.
Sympathies to all the families involved, especially the 2 children who lost both parents and their sister. It's unfathomable!
5 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
vwlarry 1/28/2020 10:15:20 AM (No. 300365)
One news story one never hears is of working class people dying in helicopter crashes. It seems to be a death reserved for the wealthy only. Very sad, but almost predictable.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
3XALADY 1/28/2020 10:18:28 AM (No. 300370)
I heard a priest say on a news report this morning that he and his daughter had just been to church and had communion before they left on the helicopter. My sincerest sympathy to the surviving families.
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
GoodDeal 1/28/2020 10:20:09 AM (No. 300372)
A direct impact into the side of the mountain at 150 mph pretty much means they didn’t even know what hit them. They had no idea or any warning.
6 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
HisHandmaiden 1/28/2020 10:38:37 AM (No. 300388)
So very tragic for these precious people and America...
May I plead with dear Ldotters, always be with instrument-trained pilots or boat captains... A wonderful professor in one of my MBA classes told how disoriented he became in a terrible Atlantic storm. But if not for his instruments, he would have been lost at sea... Even dated a smart man who respected the Chesapeake Bay so, not to go out a few times in his well-equipped boat.
Article is correct about the fog in OC and SF Valley... I would commute daily from our home in Simi Valley near the RR Library, to Oxnard, Thousand Oaks or Ventura, and even driving was hazardous, the fog was so dense and thick.
May the Almighty God of all comfort be with beautiful Vanessa Bryant and her family and these dear friends and their families... as America and the world join together in prayer and mourning...
16 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
rockeysroomie 1/28/2020 11:30:02 AM (No. 300447)
It was Sunday morning. The freeways were not that crowded. But there was thick morning fog that just wouldn't dissipate. The pilot should have known he would be flying into a fog bank. They should have taken a stretch limousine instead. This is so tragic.
6 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 1/28/2020 2:33:41 PM (No. 300650)
Here’s the central question, the one that nobody will,answer: did the pilot have an instrument rating, or didn’t he? If he didn’t, that’s what got him and all his passengers killed. It’s that simple.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
bassman 1/28/2020 2:43:52 PM (No. 300666)
#8, yes he was instrument licensed.
0 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
varkdriver 1/28/2020 5:35:14 PM (No. 300785)
I wonder exactly where they were attempting to land, or on the approach to. It would seem he was attempting to fly VFR, or get a 'special VFR' clearance to try to land. The phrase "continued VFR flight into IFR conditions" pops up all too frequently in mishap reports.
And as you noted, #1, as our flight regs/manuals would say, "You must transition to visual to instrument flying at the rate at which the outside references are deteriorating". I wish the pilot had had a plan to return back to an airfield where they could safely land.
0 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
YorkieMom 1/28/2020 6:51:13 PM (No. 300827)
With our hindsight, we can all say would have, could have, should have. Any one of us can leave our homes for a walk, be in a marked crosswalk, and still die from being hit by a car. I think of the people on vacation enjoying themselves, and die in the boat catching fire, or the tragic Duck Boat in Branson, MO. Now, I can only grieve for the lost souls and their families. May God comfort them.
0 people like this.
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*Matthew Ormseth, Kim Christensen, Ralph Vartabedian
Sounds like they just got lost in the clouds.