CA - Kobe Bryant, 41, daughter GiGi, 13, & 7 others die in helicopter crash, Calabasas, 26 Jan 2020

[Seattle1]

The Differences Between VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR

 

[mickey2942]

Your interpretation of the tower communication is incorrect.

"Too low for Flight Following" simply means the controller could not pick up a good enough radar signature to provide services. This was not an altitude too low (too close to terrain) advisory from the controller.

No, it was when the control tower was telling him which freeways to follow.

 

[Vail]

Just another video of the crash site/presser - this one is not behind gdpr or paywall Nine dead in Kobe Bryant helicopter crash in Calabasas – video

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I know, I imagine alarms were going off. I can’t imagine he would be trying to fly by visual only, especially with the bad fog.

Oh my, so fog wasn’t an issue? This is confusing.

Morning all!

I was watching the news this morning, and they said this helicopter was capable of flying safely in zero visibility.

That would mean all of the safety flying measures would have to be fully engaged, and working at the time of the flight.

It still makes me wonder if the safety measures were disengaged at the time due to the pilot being directed to pilot the helicopter using his own visuals?

The NTSB investigation into the crash will be interesting to see once they are through.

Jmho

 

[Jsizzle]

All 9 identified
Pictured: All 9 victims of helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna | Daily Mail Online

 

[JerseyGirl]

The luxury aircraft was being flown by Ara Zobayan, who, according to records was an instrument-rated pilot — meaning he was qualified to fly in fog.

Friends were mourning him on social media Sunday night, saying that he taught aspiring helicopter pilots to fly and that he was loved within the aviation community.

Pilot identified in helicopter crash that claimed Kobe Bryant’s life

RIP Ara

 

[JerseyGirl]

All 9 identified
Pictured: All 9 victims of helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna | Daily Mail Online

Among those killed were:

Kobe Bryant and his 13 year old daughter, Gianna Bryant

John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa (teenage peer of Gianna)

basketball coach Christina Mauser

Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton (teenage peer of Gianna)

Pilot, Ara Zobayan

___________

Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna

John Altobelli and his wife, Keri

Alyssa Altobelli

Christina Mauser, coach

Sarah Chester, right, and her daughter Payton

...pilot photo posted below....

 

[JerseyGirl]

Pilot, Ara Zobayan

Pictured: All 9 victims of helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna | Daily Mail Online

 

[scdiv]

Kobe Bryant helicopter crash: Ara Zobayan, Sarah and Payton Chester identified as victims

https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/kobe-...rah-and-payton-chester-identified-as-victims/

Zobayan was an experienced flyer who “taught aspiring heli pilots to fly and was very much loved in the aviation community,” KTLA’s Christina Pascucci, who is also a licensed pilot, said on Twitter.

Zobayan was “instrument rated,” Pascucci said, meaning that he “was rated to fly in fog/clouds” — the conditions that plagued Sunday’s flight.

He was also confirmed as the pilot in a series of tweets by a friend in the business, using the Twitter name Bella.

“Rest In Peace Ara. One of the sweetest pilots I’ve ever have had the pleasure to meet and converse with while working in the aviation business,” she tweeted, calling him “the sweetest, the funniest… he was purely amazing.”

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Heartbreaking. Children, parents, 9 lives lost. May they all rest in peace.

 

[Lusitana]

Interesting thing is I was in OC this morning and near the airport they took off out of. It was overcast but not foggy. They must have run into dense fog on their way to Fresno. (that's where they were going right?) But don't they need to give a flight plan and therefore would have had warning of the fog ahead? Am I missing something?

No, they were going to Newbury Park (Ventura County), and crashed in Calabasas (Los Angeles County). They were not too far from where they were going.

 

[Katerz]

I was born in Los Angeles and lived there and traveled there until we left Cali when I was 15. I am just in shock. My heart is utterly broken for all of the families. It doesn’t sound like it was pilot error though I know nothing about airplanes and helicopters. Fog gets so bad in Cali that they delay school starting. It gets super thick and you can barely see your hand in front of your face.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Heartbreaking. Children, parents, 9 lives lost. May they all rest in peace.

5 sets of families ripped apart.

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

5 sets of families ripped apart.

Horrible for the children's friends, having to deal with that kind of loss at such a young age

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for Island Express Holding Corp., the company to which the helicopter was registered, told The Times he thought the crash was likelier caused by bad weather than mechanical issues.

“The likelihood of a catastrophic twin-engine failure on that aircraft — it just doesn’t happen,” he said.
Deetz, who said he logged more than 1,000 hours in the helicopter that crashed Sunday, called its condition “fantastic.” Island Express follows a “very good maintenance program,” he added.
Probe of Kobe Bryant crash will probably focus on fog, possible mechanical problems, experts say

 

[BeachSky]

https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/kobe-...rah-and-payton-chester-identified-as-victims/

The pilot of the doomed helicopter that crashed and killed Kobe Bryant, his teenage daughter and several others was praised as the “sweetest” man who was “especially attentive” to the basketball legend’s family....
LAPD says flights were grounded due to fog when Kobe Bryant's chopper crashed

——-
One commentator on the news said that the pilot possibly came up on the fog and made too sharp of a turn - into the mountain.
MOO

 

[SeattleStew]

I wanted to share this local newspaper article from a couple weeks ago. Kobe and Gianna flew to Cashmere, Washington, a dinky little town, to visit a female High School basketball player that they befriended last summer during a basketball camp. They promised to come see her play, and they did:

Van Lith and Cashmere girls dominate in front of Kobe Bryant

 

[JerseyGirl]

Matt Mauser gushed about his “beautiful, smart, funny” wife, Christina Mauser, on the “Today” show early Monday after a sleepless night following her death in Sunday’s fiery California chopper crash.

“I’ve got three small kids and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate life with three kids and no mom,” he told the show in a phone call. “I’m scared more than anything — I’m a little scared for the future.”

Mauser — who had also taught Bryant’s kids both Spanish and some hoops — said he had a slumber party with his kids where they watched the endless tributes on TV to the nine who died, including Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.

Breaking down, he recalled his daughter telling him “it was nice to know that everyone was hurting along with us.” “I know that that sounds odd, but it does kind of help,” he said about the outpouring of “mourning and hurting.”

He said he knew all the victims in the Calabasas crash, saying, “It was a family. They all really cared for each other.

https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/husband-of-christina-mauser-victim-in-kobe-bryant-crash-speaks-out/

 

[kkdj]

Interesting thing is I was in OC this morning and near the airport they took off out of. It was overcast but not foggy. They must have run into dense fog on their way to Fresno. (that's where they were going right?) But don't they need to give a flight plan and therefore would have had warning of the fog ahead? Am I missing something?

Matt Mauser gushed about his “beautiful, smart, funny” wife, Christina Mauser, on the “Today” show early Monday after a sleepless night following her death in Sunday’s fiery California chopper crash.

“I’ve got three small kids and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate life with three kids and no mom,” he told the show in a phone call. “I’m scared more than anything — I’m a little scared for the future.”

Mauser — who had also taught Bryant’s kids both Spanish and some hoops — said he had a slumber party with his kids where they watched the endless tributes on TV to the nine who died, including Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.

Breaking down, he recalled his daughter telling him “it was nice to know that everyone was hurting along with us.” “I know that that sounds odd, but it does kind of help,” he said about the outpouring of “mourning and hurting.”

He said he knew all the victims in the Calabasas crash, saying, “It was a family. They all really cared for each other.
I am heartbroken, as I'm sure many others are as well. Simply heartbroken...
https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/husband-of-christina-mauser-victim-in-kobe-bryant-crash-speaks-out/

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

I wanted to share this local newspaper article from a couple weeks ago. Kobe and Gianna flew to Cashmere, Washington, a dinky little town, to visit a female High School basketball player that they befriended last summer during a basketball camp. They promised to come see her play, and they did:

Van Lith and Cashmere girls dominate in front of Kobe Bryant

Wow, that is so cool!