Kobe Bryant Crash

pbehn · Feb 5, 2020

Freebird said:
Ultimately, the celebrity has to be the responsible one.
Were the conditions that foggy at take off?

I am in UK, as I understand it the police there had grounded their helicopters. I didn't mean a celebrity as in a person I meant the celebrity world, I doubt Kobe was looking around for a pilot any more than Diana was looking for a driver. They trust it all to "providers" but frequently when the provider is told a pilot wont fly they just look for one that will, not accept that its too dangerous, because that may cost them their job as a "provider". Ordinary members of the public don't end up in dodgy planes with unqualified pilots on a scheduled flight, wannabe celeb footballers like Emiliano Sala do.

FLYBOYJ · Feb 5, 2020

Freebird said:
Ultimately, the celebrity has to be the responsible one.
Were the conditions that foggy at take off?

pbehn said:
I am in UK, as I understand it the police there had grounded their helicopters. I didn't mean a celebrity as in a person I meant the celebrity world, I doubt Kobe was looking around for a pilot any more than Diana was looking for a driver. They trust it all to "providers" but frequently when the provider is told a pilot wont fly they just look for one that will, not accept that its too dangerous, because that may cost them their job as a "provider". Ordinary members of the public don't end up in dodgy planes with unqualified pilots on a scheduled flight, wannabe celeb footballers like Emiliano Sala do.

The pilot was ultimately responsible for the safe operation of this flight.

With that said, the weather conditions at take off were actually VFR (1000' overcast, 4 miles visibility). Not the greatest weather but perfectly legal for the helicopter to take off. The fact that the "police grounded their helicopters" was just media sensationalism feeding the uninformed general public.

Freebird · Feb 6, 2020

FLYBOYJ said:
The pilot was ultimately responsible for the safe operation of this flight. With that said, the weather conditions at take off were actually VFR (1000' overcast, 4 miles visibility). Not the greatest weather but perfectly legal for the helicopter to take off. The fact that the "police grounded their helicopters" was just media sensationalism feeding the uninformed general public.

Freebird · Feb 6, 2020

The pilot is indeed responsible.
I just hope he wasn't pushed/threatened by management or the client to fly in unsafe conditions to make a timetable

XBe02Drvr · Feb 6, 2020

Freebird said:
The pilot is indeed responsible.
I just hope he wasn't pushed/threatened by management or the client to fly in unsafe conditions to make a timetable

I read in one of the innumerable reports that the pilot was Kobe's chosen pilot and loyal friend. Sometimes a relationship like that, if true, can push a pilot even harder than malevolent management can, especially if both parties are goal oriented go-getter types.

rochie · Feb 6, 2020

pbehn said:
Ordinary members of the public don't end up in dodgy planes with unqualified pilots on a scheduled flight, wannabe celeb footballers like Emiliano Sala do.

i would bet there are lots of pilots without the correct certification making regular flights to and from the UK using loop holes in the regulation to carry passengers when they are not supposed to.

i believe one guy has been quoted as saying it would only take a famous person to die to shine a light on this sort of thing

FLYBOYJ · Feb 6, 2020

Freebird said:
The pilot is indeed responsible.
I just hope he wasn't pushed/threatened by management or the client to fly in unsafe conditions to make a timetable

That's something we'll never know. Personally I don't believe that was an issue.

FLYBOYJ · Feb 7, 2020

For what it's worth the NTSB announced today that Bryant's helicopter was making power when it crashed, so much for those witnesses who heard "sputtering."

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Feb 7, 2020

FLYBOYJ said:
For what it's worth the NTSB announced today that Bryant's helicopter was making power when it crashed, so much for those witnesses who heard "sputtering."

i Shook my head when I heard the sputtering report. Turbines don't sputter...

Shortround6 · Feb 7, 2020

But, But, But witnesses don't lie...............................
They heard the sputter, heard the crash and looked up and saw the impact, we all know that sound travels faster than light

XBe02Drvr · Feb 8, 2020

Shortround6 said:
But, But, But witnesses don't lie...............................
They heard the sputter, heard the crash and looked up and saw the impact, we all know that sound travels faster than light

And normal rotor noise sounds like sputtering.....when recalled from memory after the fact. Especially if there was a sudden last minute pull on the collective before impact.

swampyankee · Feb 8, 2020

Shortround6 said:
But, But, But witnesses don't lie...............................
They heard the sputter, heard the crash and looked up and saw the impact, we all know that sound travels faster than light

Eyewitnesses don't need to lie to be unreliable; our eyes aren't video cameras and our brains aren't hard drives. Our brains store interpretations of events with a lot of details interpolated during recall. They even do this while events are in progress.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Feb 8, 2020

XBe02Drvr said:
And normal rotor noise sounds like sputtering.....when recalled from memory after the fact. Especially if there was a sudden last minute pull on the collective before impact.

I don't think it sounds like sputtering at all. It's more like a thwapping.

FLYBOYJ · Feb 8, 2020

XBe02Drvr said:
And normal rotor noise sounds like sputtering.....when recalled from memory after the fact. Especially if there was a sudden last minute pull on the collective before impact.

Hmmm.... Maybe to someone who's not around helicopters or engines (reciprocating or turbine) very much. Most people don't even know that most helicopters are turbine driven.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Feb 8, 2020

An R-22 might sputter because it is powered by a reciprocating engine...

FLYBOYJ · Feb 8, 2020

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
An R-22 might sputter because it is powered by a reciprocating engine...

LOL - it sputters because it could barely get out of it's own way!

XBe02Drvr · Feb 8, 2020

FLYBOYJ said:
Hmmm.... Maybe to someone who's not around helicopters or engines (reciprocating or turbine) very much.

You mean like the general public? "Turbine, what's that? I HEARD it sputter! Like a stuttering sound!" Doesn't the S76 have a four or five blade articulated system, not a "thwapper" like the old two blade Bells?

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Feb 8, 2020

XBe02Drvr said:
You mean like the general public? "Turbine, what's that? I HEARD it sputter! Like a stuttering sound!" Doesn't the S76 have a four or five blade articulated system, not a "thwapper" like the old two blade Bells?

The S-76 still sounds nothing like a sputter. It is very similar to H-60 and more like a buzzing, beating sound. Still more like a thwap than a sputter.

FLYBOYJ · Feb 8, 2020

XBe02Drvr · Feb 10, 2020

FLYBOYJ said:

You know and I know what a sputter and a helicopter sound like (although that sputter clip sounds like a Clerget or Oberursel rotary with a decoupe button being used to provide less than full power by intermittent ignition interruption), but we're around these things all the time. Do you really think the average American, stressed by witnessing a high profile tragedy, would be as sophisticated and accurate in their acoustic memory as you or I would be expected to be?

Kobe Bryant Crash

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