That's my thinking at the moment as well, with what has been described, but I'm half a world away...
I suspect that this wouldn't have happened if they were operating IFR unfortunately.
Kobe Bryant Crash
- Thread starter FLYBOYJ
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That's my thinking at the moment as well, with what has been described, but I'm half a world away...
I suspect that this wouldn't have happened if they were operating IFR unfortunately.
I figure she was assassinated -- I don't know the exact reason, but it adds up. It's surprising how easy one can send a car off with a PIT maneuver or some variation.
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- #23
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Agree - some other stuff that came up on my radar;
"IF" the pilot was authorized to fly IFR, he would have been compelled to shoot an IAP at his destination. They were on their way to Bryant's basketball center, there is a helipad there and I'd bet dollars to donuts there is absolutely no IAP for that LZ. About 20 miles to the north is Camarillo Airport, all kind of IAPs there.
No, it was just company policy. It did not matter if we were VFR or IFR. Only the small ships were allowed single pilot.
i think you are right.
Feb 3, 1959
The Day the Music Died
"If there's a rock n' roll heaven, you know they got a helluva band!"
Jim Croce
Otis Redding
Patsy Cline
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Ricky Nelson
Glenn Miller
The Barkays
and on...
and on...
and on...
Not only rock and roll, add Graham Hill (F1 driver flying unqualified in fog) and Trafford Leigh Mallory, No aircraft would have the temerity to hit a mountain with an air chief marshall and and his wife on board, would it? From wiki my bold.…..... On 16 August 1944, with the Battle of Normandy almost over, Leigh-Mallory was appointed Air Commander-in-Chief of South East Asia Command (SEAC) with the temporary rank of air chief marshal.[21] But before he could take up his post, on 14 November, he and his wife were killed en route to Burma when their Avro York MW126,[1] flown by Squadron Leader Charles Gordon Drake Lancaster (DFC and Bar),[22] crashed in the French Alps, killing all on board.[4] A court of inquiry found that the accident was a consequence of bad weather and might have been avoided if Leigh-Mallory had not insisted that the flight proceed in such poor conditions against the advice of his aircrew.[
Admiral Beez
Major
I don't understand, if you're in an aircraft that can fly straight up and you can't see forwards or to the sides, why wouldn't you hover, call for clearance and climb straight up out of the fog to get your bearings?
This does remind me of The Day the Music Died.
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- #30
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
For starters, had he did that he would have possibly violated 91.157 as he had to stay "clear of clouds." Although this aircraft might have been IFR capable, it may have been illegal for it to be operated single pilot IFR. Bad enough to paint yourself into a corner, even worse when you're flying Kobe Bryant. Yes, it seems like it would have been better to take a violation than die. Sadly the decision making process lead to the death of 7 people. According to the unofficial flight tracks, it seemed he did slow down substantially, possibly to assess his situation then increased airspeed and altitude.
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Ain't hindsight 20/20...
I'm fairly confident that heli pilots try to avoid hovering in IMC. Maintaining a hover is hard enough when you've got an external horizon to work from, I can't imagine what it's like without external reference.
- Thread starter
- #32
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Very true - and hover in IMC when you know you have rising terrain to your sides and in front of you.
Having lived in Southern California on and off for 20 years, I know exactly where he crashed, even flown over the area several times. Not a place to be flying at low altitude during this time of the year.
In fact, if he were doing a spiral climb, which is a reasonable thing to do in the situation, and got the 'leans' then that is a plausible explanation.
I get that it is restricted from single pilot IFR, but couldn't he have have declared IMC?
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- #35
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Absolutely - but had he done that, got vectors back to Van Nuys or on to Camarillo, more than likely he would have been told to call the tower upon landing and I'm sure the FAA would be looking at enforcement/ violation. It's times like this when commercial pilots put their careers ahead of their lives and sometimes and unfortunately ahead of the lives of their passengers.
Yeah I get all that, but it just leade back full circle to the poor aeronautical decision making that occurred here. Never should have taken off to begin with. If the company is pressuring you to fly in it, you don't want to work for them. If Passenger (Kobe in this case) is pressuring you to fly, you don't want to fly them.
it's sometimes best to be on the ground wishing you were up in the air, than being up in the air wishing you were on the ground.
As a confirmed (and prejudiced) fixed wing pilot who has tried a time or three (unsuccessfully) to learn to hover a helicopter, I can tell you it's difficult, and without immediate visual feedback, nigh impossible. Without nearby visual references you can be slipsliding in any direction and not realize it.
The only safe IMC capable hover I'm aware of is one I've observed in use in a Navy SH3 intended for sonar dunking. That was in the form of an autopilot coupled to a Doppler radar system that could keep the sonar hydrophone stationary in the water as the bird was getting pushed back and forth by wind gusts. We weren't hunting subs, just picking up Cuban refugees who were in pretty tough shape, but it was awesome watching the cyclic and collective moving on their own as the lift operator vectored us in on the boat and the flying pilot twisted knobs on the autopilot to command our approach. We were bouncing around in the breeze, but the penetrator seat moved in on the boat steady as a rock.
Needless to say, Kobe's chopper didn't have any such device, and being below radar coverage, couldn't have been issued an IFR clearance in any case.
No cheers today.
Wes
Admiral Beez
Major
- Thread starter
- #39
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Look at the flight tracker posted earlier. He slowed down then accelerated while climbing and turning.
michael rauls
Tech Sergeant
- 1,679
- Jul 15, 2016
Just a thought/question for the actual pilots here. Perhaps I'm looking at this too simplisticly but it seems if you get into heavy fog and you know the highest mountain in the immediate area is say 2500 feet wouldn't the safest thing to do be get up abouve that altitude and fly in the direction of the nearest airport reporting clear skies?
Of course if it turns out to be mechanical trouble that wouldn't apply to this incident but I keep hearing reporters speculate on what the pilot may have been trying to do, set it down, go back to where they took off from etc. but given the abouve non of it makes much sense to me.
Of course if it turns out to be mechanical trouble that wouldn't apply to this incident but I keep hearing reporters speculate on what the pilot may have been trying to do, set it down, go back to where they took off from etc. but given the abouve non of it makes much sense to me.
