Assuming not a mechanical fail, pilot should have said ‘no’ but didn’t, why? Some hotshot? Wanting to impress his star passenger? Worried about keeping his gig and the benefits it conferred? Did a cabin full of passengers with somewhere to go become irritated at the loitering over the zoo versus getting to the destination?
What the ■■■■ is wrong with you?
You think you coud let the relatives bury their dead before you start pissing on their graves?
They made a sharp turn back into terrain while descending. Dropping below the cloud cover to maintain VFR would be one thing, but why they circled back into terrain is weird.
NTSB is asking all these questions and more no doubt.
Maybe the pilot was disoriented? Got into the thick of things and tried to get out like you said but was lost in the weather when it counted.
Sounding like the exact way Stevie Ray Vaughan died. Lessons of the past are so easy to forget.
Yeah in my brief reading it made it clear that it is very very difficult to know your orientation when in clouds, and there is no simple way to stop and hover without knowing if you are moving sideways, backwards etc… (so they don’t and maintain speed on purpose) maybe he tried to get out of the clouds but did not know how much he was circling back.
But all speculation, for all we know they had some health issue. We may never know…
These pilots are probably paid by the flight. Union pilots or airline pilots get paid regardless. So they would never take a chance. This guy probably did this on numerous occasions with success and thought he could do it again. Someone getting paid regardless would never take a chance.
Doesn’t he own his own helicopter? I was thinking he hires his own pilots, like specifically to fly his helicopter and responsible for the safety of his family. I just don’t feel like he would have a parade of unknowns coming through and flying his family around.
But I don’t really know.
As far as I know that isn’t the case. The pilot was an employee of a company not related to Kobe.
Ok thanks for that info.
My understanding is he owned the helicopter but hired a company that provided maintenance and pilots.
Because Los Angeles traffic sucks?
Because upon missing one child’s school play, Mr. Bryant swore he’d never do that & started using the helicopter, he and his wife agreeing they’d never travel by copter together.
The Bryants don’t sound like such bad people. I’m going to work tonight in gold scrub pants with a purple hoodie.
Rest in Peace, Kobe, Gianna and fellow passengers.
2 Likes
Union or non union, Mr. Zobayan was licensed to fly under other than standard weather conditions & had to receive clearance to take off.
Yes. But it is ultimately up to the pilot. Just because he is licensed to fly under less than standard conditions doesn’t mean it is just as safe as standard conditions. Clearly. I’m sure the LAPD had pilots capable of flying in poor conditions given emergency circumstances. But most contracted employees get paid by the job. Union members get paid regardless. So yeah, get an experienced pilot that’s flown in these conditions before and has confidence, he’s willing to take what he considers a small risk. The union member wouldn’t.
I don’t know if most police helicopters are rated for that.
The choppers themselves? I’ll admit I am no expert. But I think it is more of a pilot issue than the heli itself. It’s visibility and the technique they use when flying in those conditions. I don’t remember what they called it but it was a 3 letter abbreviation. It had to do with flying low and keeping the ground in sight. I’m assuming that’s for an emergency landing, but just a guess. But not everyone is trained in that.
Rest in peace to everyone who died in the crash but Kobe. The rapist can rot in hell. I’m not sure what disgusts me more, the way he got away with the rape or how everyone is hero worshiping him now as if he wasn’t a rapist.
From the rape exam of the girl he raped.
[The nurse] stated that there were several lacerations to the victim’s posterior fourchette or vaginal area, and two of those lacerations were approximately one centimeter in length,” testified Det. Winters. “And there were many, I believe, 2 millimeter lacerations. Too many to count… [The nurse] stated that the injuries were consistent with penetrating genital trauma. That it’s not consistent with consensual sex.”
His victim backed out right before trial because her name had been repeatedly leaked to the media and she was being re-raped by the media and public over and over again. Its no wonder she didn’t want to have to relive the experience on the stand. Its why many victims back out but they don’t get it from the media and fans.
Doesn’t change the conclusive findings of the rape exam. Or how Kobe told the cops during the initial interviews that he should have just paid her off from the start like Shaq does. Or how Kobe lied about ever doing anything with her until presented with DNA evidence. Or how he settled with her for millions.
Oh but some other guys DNA was found on her underwear. So. She she was an adult and a finding of DNA doesn’t tell you when it was put there. She easily could have had consensual sex with someone before Kobe or maybe even after as a coping mechanism. Doesn’t mean anything next to the definitive results of the rape exam.
The term used is ‘scud running’. Usual caveats of ‘it is too early to say anything definitive’ it looks like this what the pilot was doing and was likely making terrible decisions, the ‘why’ behind those decisions may never be known since apparently there is no CVR. So little margin for error in such dangerous conditions, one questions the ego of the pilot.
Anyone that does something well for decades is going to have a lot of confidence in themselves. This link pretty much shows the pilot was disoriented at some point.
