Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash

TXDirt
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1/28/2020 6:47am Edited Date/Time 1/28/2020 6:49am
Often times when I’ve driving in a heavy snowfall at night with my headlights on, I can become very disoriented. There is a name for it but I forget. Basically what happens to me is it feels like my car stops moving completely and the road and snow is coming at me. Like one of those old race car games where the car is stationary and the road is coming at you. I become really disoriented and even my other senses like hearing become disoriented. It’s very strange and a bit nerve racking. My reflexes are reacting to what’s coming at me vs what I’m coming at. A completely opposite feeling when I drive.

Anyone ever experience that?
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SEE ARE125
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1/28/2020 7:13am
TXDirt wrote:
Often times when I’ve driving in a heavy snowfall at night with my headlights on, I can become very disoriented. There is a name for it...
Often times when I’ve driving in a heavy snowfall at night with my headlights on, I can become very disoriented. There is a name for it but I forget. Basically what happens to me is it feels like my car stops moving completely and the road and snow is coming at me. Like one of those old race car games where the car is stationary and the road is coming at you. I become really disoriented and even my other senses like hearing become disoriented. It’s very strange and a bit nerve racking. My reflexes are reacting to what’s coming at me vs what I’m coming at. A completely opposite feeling when I drive.

Anyone ever experience that?
Yeah I’ve experienced it. It requires a lot of focus to keep from getting sucked into that feeling. The same thing happens when you’re severely fatigued and driving. For some reason at night in falling snow, aside from fighting back the disorientation you describe, I feel like I’m stuck in that old Microsoft screensaver. lol I’ve found it helps to constantly glance to the sides and in your rear view as opposed to just looking forward. Not much, but it does help some to see trees, rocks, etc to convince yourself you’re moving forward.
reded
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1/28/2020 7:21am
The same thing happens in the dunes at night. It’s an eerie feeling.
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Ted722
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1/28/2020 7:45am
Local commercial pilot had an immediate assessment (with some updates in the comments section). There's some comments too from helicopter pilots in the comments section .

Lost a college buddy to adverse conditions back in the early 90's from a small aircraft accident. They turned around (trying to get back to Tracy, Ca) to avoid bad conditions traversing the Altamont pass and flew into the side of a hill. Haven't heard the term scud running since that accident.

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The Shop

TXDirt
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1/28/2020 8:46am
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that was a very good explanation.
1/28/2020 9:01am
Ted722 wrote:
Local commercial pilot had an immediate assessment (with some updates in the comments section). There's some comments too from helicopter pilots in the comments section...
Local commercial pilot had an immediate assessment (with some updates in the comments section). There's some comments too from helicopter pilots in the comments section .

Lost a college buddy to adverse conditions back in the early 90's from a small aircraft accident. They turned around (trying to get back to Tracy, Ca) to avoid bad conditions traversing the Altamont pass and flew into the side of a hill. Haven't heard the term scud running since that accident.

Well this explains why the pilot couldn't just stop and hover....but comments from other experienced helicopter pilots state that a good pilot should have been able to slow down airspeed to a crawl and climb, even without visibility. They said he should be experienced enough to have a "feel" for what the helicopter is doing (drift right, left, backwards, etc).

But considering his airspeed at the time of impact, he was definitely not slowing down and being cautious. After seeing this video I'm definitely convinced this was a case of Kobe running late after circling around burbank for 10 minutes and pressuring the pilot to "make it happen". Poor decisions were made to fly into the fog especially at such low elevations and high speeds and it resulted in death for all on board.

Flying approximately 170mph and doing a "u turn" with no visibility in mountainous terrain is not being cautious. Sounds like he coulda-shoulda slowed airspeed to approximately 65knots and performed a tighter turn and a steep climb.

All easier said than done when typing from a keyboard of course...

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AHRMA361
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1/28/2020 9:06am
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain

A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit an overhead wire near his home while giving a test ride to another pilot. It crashed and neither survived. He had flown in that area for a long time and still made a fatal mistake.

@Black Diesel Bomber, I think tingo is the resident pilot on this board. Maybe he will see this post.
1/28/2020 9:22am
AHRMA361 wrote:
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit...
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain

A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit an overhead wire near his home while giving a test ride to another pilot. It crashed and neither survived. He had flown in that area for a long time and still made a fatal mistake.

@Black Diesel Bomber, I think tingo is the resident pilot on this board. Maybe he will see this post.
Yeah, hopefully tingo chimes in.

One more thing to add having flown quite a bit in small aircraft. I don't think people realize that you are not flying on your schedule, you are flying on the weather's schedule. Our scheduled departure times have been delayed several times, even to the next day because of weather. You just don't put yourself in that situation and if you do you are risking what happened to Kobe and his people.
AHRMA361
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1/28/2020 5:01pm
AHRMA361 wrote:
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit...
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain

A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit an overhead wire near his home while giving a test ride to another pilot. It crashed and neither survived. He had flown in that area for a long time and still made a fatal mistake.

@Black Diesel Bomber, I think tingo is the resident pilot on this board. Maybe he will see this post.
Yeah, hopefully tingo chimes in. One more thing to add having flown quite a bit in small aircraft. I don't think people realize that you are...
Yeah, hopefully tingo chimes in.

One more thing to add having flown quite a bit in small aircraft. I don't think people realize that you are not flying on your schedule, you are flying on the weather's schedule. Our scheduled departure times have been delayed several times, even to the next day because of weather. You just don't put yourself in that situation and if you do you are risking what happened to Kobe and his people.
My Dad was a private pilot, owned a few planes (all VFR). I flew a lot with him. His first and foremost rule was safety and weather conditions defined if we flew or not.

He once had to dead stick a landing in a field in the Ozark mountains when he got bad fuel.and his plane shut off. Said that situation wasn't nearly as scary as coming into heavy cloud deck that wasn't forecast when he was flying my sister back to college in W. Virginia on a nice fall day that turned into IFR conditions and he had to try and turn back and hit a local FBO for the day until the fog lifted..
G-man
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1/29/2020 5:36pm Edited Date/Time 1/29/2020 5:38pm
It almost does not seem real that Kobe is no longer with us.

I remember seeing him playing live for the first time in 1996 as a 18 year old just out of high school.

I don't believe he started but there still was a lot of hype and anticipation to watch him play and you could just see that this kid had something special in him but I had no idea he would turn out to be one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

He had a love-hate relationship with the Phoenix Suns fans as he used to put a dagger in our hearts many times and he loved it. He would get booed loudly but that just seemed to light his fire and the Killer Instinct would take over.

But then there were also many games that seemed like they were Laker home games as a lot of LA people have moved here and are very Vocal fans and they would go crazy every time Kobe had the ball.

Such a shame as I remember seeing him in an interview a few years ago and could see the excitement in his eyes about his new film career and where that was taking him. And just like in typical Kobe fashion he reign supreme and got an Oscar.

This is all very sad for everybody, for his family and all the others who perished in this horrendous and tragic event......😭




LoudLove
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1/29/2020 8:00pm
AHRMA361 wrote:
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit...
CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain

A football teammate of mine in HS was later in life a Gyrocopter pilot and salesman for Gyrocopters. He hit an overhead wire near his home while giving a test ride to another pilot. It crashed and neither survived. He had flown in that area for a long time and still made a fatal mistake.

@Black Diesel Bomber, I think tingo is the resident pilot on this board. Maybe he will see this post.
I left the navy in ‘94...and still have dreams (nightmares?) about hitting or narrowly avoiding power lines.
G-man
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2/1/2020 8:20am Edited Date/Time 2/1/2020 10:39am
Last night was the Suns first home game since the tragedy. The pre-game activities are very LOUD with all the music and announcements going on as the players are warming up. I actually wear EARPLUGS as I have Tinnitus and can't stand the Rap, pop music they play.

The PA announcer then brought up Kobe and named all the victims of the accident along with a picture of Kobe and his daughter Gianna.

He then asked for 24 seconds of Silence.
Usually in moments like this you get some jack off who screams or yells something but this was not the case, not one peep from over 16,000 people.

You could hear a pin drop.
It was surreal and definitely put a lump in my throat and my eyes were misty....



After the game was over and we were walking to the car this was on the giant video screen overlooking downtown Phoenix.





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