Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash

As a life long Laker fan, this has been an unreal day.

I remember exactly where I was and how i watched his 81 point game back in 06 against the Raptors. I'll never forget watching his last NBA game, hootin' and hollerin' in disbelief as he dropped 60 points in one of the best send off games in all of sports.

For me, I think the toughest thing is knowing his daughter also passed away - along with another young teammate of hers. It's so tough when young kids are involved. In the last year or so Kobe has been MUCH more visible in the public eye, going to numerous Laker games with his daughter who was really showing a tremendous love and interest in basketball. He was a true leader. I feel like he was just getting started on his post-basketball career and was going to accomplish a lot of lot of positive things.

I live just 3 exits down the freeway from the crash site and I went down there for a short time today. Such a sad and somber experience.

So sad. Unbelievable for the families too, what a harrowing way to go. RIP.

I feel horrible Kobe can,t be gone and Gigi his cool daughter. Family has to be in massive pain. I read his book years ago, interesting read. I was supposed to be on flight 427 in 94, 132 died, stayed and worked instead of going home. I just had a different weird feeling,

How in the fuck did she do that.... what a fool.

Wow. Being reported now there were quite a few on the chopper. Pilot, Kobe, Gianna, a husband (coach) and wife and daughter, another Mum and kid, and another coach... awful.

Here’s Kobe and his daughter GiGi visiting Hailey Van Lith a few weeks ago. Van Lith was GiGi’s favorite player. The friendship began when Kobe invited her to train at his academy and it evolved into Van Lith doing some coaching of GiGi as well. Van Lith is number 11 next to GiGi.

devastating man, all those lives lost and one of the greatest to ever play.

i remember watching his last game ever, he dropped 60 on Utah and even though i was a Utah nerd i enjoyed every minute of watching him shred.

RIP

Maybe a dumb question, they're talking about fog being a contributing factor ? Not understanding how that can matter with all the gps technology today ? Do they really rely on "Sight" that much ?

There is video of the actual crash on YouTube. Looks like tail rotor issue.

As the reports go, the pilot was trying to follow the 101 north to Newbury park. In the area of the crash there are steep hillside/mountains that line the highway, and the fog can get down to the 10-20 foot visibility range. Sounds like the pilot was trying to pull up but the chopper slammed into a mountain about 1500 feet up.

This area to the right of Las Virgenes is where it went down.

I deleted this vidoe, not sure if this wasn't a hoax by someone wanting clicks.

Holy freaking cow...……

Those last several seconds must have been horrific for everyone on board. A big part of me hopes that the family never has to see that.

I might delete that video. I question its authenticity.

I deleted the video because I think there is at least a 50% chance it's just someone trying to get youtube clicks. I do see several copies of it out there though. If it's fake there are some pretty sick people in this world.

Several YouTube comments on that footage(not that specific video) say that’s a crash that happened overseas. One commenter specifically mentioned Dubai? Seems some people are posting a random helicopter crash and saying it’s Kobe’s for clicks.

EDIT: You beat me to it. I don’t think it was legitimate, the area looked different. The crash site had some greenery and more fog, that video was brown and clear skies. I agree there are some sickos out there.

It’s fake from what I have read.

The fog was so thick through there Sunday AM there is no way anyone has video of it.

Yep, I was duped: Apparently a crash from 2018 in Dubai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpzrjXGYavE

Glad that hoax was quickly called out. I could tell in two seconds that those hills are not Calabasas.

It will be interesting to see how the flight investigation plays out. The topography in that area is not sudden and/or dangerous for flight purposes - although I have ZERO flight knowledge or experience. But generally speaking they are gradual hills that are not all that tall or sudden. Kobe obviously had the resources to have a top notch helicopter and I assume the pilot was very experienced and probably a full time employee with how often Kobe flew.

Still so gutted about all of these lives cut short.

Detailed description from a witness.

It sounds like that was a factor. I work in an ER where we do a lot of helicopter transfers, and they will tell us the weather is too bad even when the sky is perfectly clear. It's really tricky.

It was reported that they flew into that terrain at 160 knots....they didn't spin out of the sky. I was in the area that day and you could not have seen anything...it was dense in areas....... I wonder why with a helicopter and no visibility, they didn't just go into a hover and take that thing straight up until over the fog..? Then regroup and form a new plan to land. Or follow a road? Easy to speculate on the ground typing into a computer.....Things can go south fast in zero visibility over a highly populated area..... Never should have been up there. But who tells Kobe no????

Here's the actual flt data

Look at the spike in speed and the drop in altitude right at the end...crazy.

That may have been for all sorts of reasons...

To answer your question yes they do rely on "sight" that much. I'm surprised Vital doesn't have a legitimate Pilot who's chimed in yet but here's my two cents from someone who's spent time in a small aircraft (co pilot seat) flying in foggy conditions. I grew up a few miles from the crash site and when the fog and marine layer rolls in it gets so thick you can't see your hand in front of your face. I'm exaggerating a bit but you get the idea. Here's what I believe will come of the investigation. I believe it was 100% pilot error:

1. The fog on Sunday morning was so thick it did not allow for VFR (Visual Flight Rules). Flying VFR means you can see the terrain below you and you "fly by sight" and landmarks, etc. This was not an option due to the fog, so the pilot should have been flying IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) which means he's flying without visibility and air traffic control guides and tells him exactly what elevation, direction, he needs to be to avoid terrain and other traffic. Basically, in IFR you could throw a blanket over the cockpit windshield because you are flying with your instrumentation panel and following guidance from air traffic controllers in your ear.

2. The pilot circled around the Burbank area and requested special VFR permission and "flight following". Basically saying, "Hey, I know it's foggy but I can stay low and navigate through it by following the freeway, please grant my special request to fly VFR". Most pilots would not do this and would just land and wait for the weather to clear. Why didn't this Pilot decide to wait it out? My guess is because he had Kobe Bryant on board who needed to get to his daughter's basketball game.

3. The pilot requested flight following which means he's being watched by air traffic and they'll notify him of any nearby obstacles/traffic and they'll provide guidance when needed. It's kind of like a hey, can you watch me and make sure I'm not running into trouble? This happened until he headed south from the 118fwy and headed toward 101fwy. Here's my guess as to what happened next...

4. He flew into the heavy fog bank and suddenly experience zero visibility losing sight of the freeway and terrain below him. He tried to radio in for guidance but lost communication because he was flying too low. The terrain is very steep and it can be deceiving with how high you are in times of limited or zero visibility. Without tower communication and zero visibility the panic sets in and things start happening really fast, especially in an airplane when there's no option to slow down and hover.

5. I'm guessing he made a turn back East as an attempt to clear the fog bank and regain visibility of the freeway below but this resulted in him crashing into the mountain. He probably would have heard loud "TERRAIN, TERRAIN" warnings in the cockpit right before impact but it was too late to "pull up" if you will.

If my analysis is anywhere near correct, the only positive out of this tragedy is that no one on board knew this was coming and it happened in an instant. One second they were having fun and socializing in the helicopter and the next second it's over. No warning, just boom lights out in an instant which means no suffering through a "nose dive" if you will.

People might ask why didn't the pilot just hover (you don't have this luxury in a plane) or increase his altitude? I'm not sure, but those questions may never be answered. What I can tell you is that when flying any aircraft altitude is your friend. And with him flying at 1500ft or below in steep terrain gives him zero time to deal with any miscalculations or mechanical issues.

There's got to be a pilot here on Vital who can chime in....I would like to hear some analysis from someone who flies every day.

If my 2 cents above is close to what happened and it turns out to be 100% pilot error, then I would also think that pilot's bad decision to fly through the fog was probably influenced by having Kobe's posse on board and wanting to get to his destination on time.

Curious to see what the investigation unravels. RIP Kobe, Gigi, and all other passengers/pilot on board.

Post above offers a reasonable assessment of the incident. Weather conditions & visibility can change radically and quickly, going from VFR to IFR in a matter of seconds. We frequently encountered similar conditions during low-altitude training flights in the Blue Ridge mountains.

While survival instincts should result in an immediate pulling back on the stick when suddenly “in the goo”, pilots sometimes ignore flight protocol and stick to the original game plan. And the end result is far to often what happened on Sunday.

Reading other comments around the web, that especially for helicopter pilots, it can be difficult for the brain to go to IFR and trust it. The IFR can be telling you to go right, and your body and brain can feel like you need to go left. Basically you get completely disoriented and you start second guessing and actually doing the opposite of what the IFR says to do. Once panic sets in its all over. Little bit different in a plane because the change of direction isn’t so sudden. Helicopters require much more feel and visual queues. Switching to IFR only requires completely shutting down what you feel you need to do and listen and act on IFR only.

Don’t know how accurate that all is but that’s what I have been reading.