CALABASAS, Calif. —The helicopter carrying basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and eight others crashed into a Calabasas, California, hillside with a "high energy impact," the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
As federal investigators wrapped up operations at the crash site, NTSB member Jennifer Homendy said preliminary information suggests the plane descended rapidly and was likely in one piece before it slammed into the hill.
"The descent rate for the helicopter was over 2,000 feet a minute, so we know that this was a high energy impact crash," Homendy said. "This is a pretty steep descent at high speed. So it wouldn't be a normal landing speed."
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12 comments:
Pilat should have known better & Landed !!!
It's sad. However, please let these 9 individuals rest in peace. I do hope Hollywood and the media stop jumping on the band wagon for credits.
it's called "Ground Proximity Warning System" for a reason!
All the money but not enough brains to have it installed!
Darwin award!
People who don't know what they are doing shouldn't be flying aircraft JFK Jr is a perfect example of that.
Investigators: Crashed helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and 8 others was 20 to 30 feet from clearing hilltop.:
Had no chance of "clearing" the hill top as he was descending at 2000 ft per minute. He couldn't see the ground and was descending so he could get below the cloud cover and see again. I've had a little experience riding in helicopters in dense fog (military in Europe), and the fog forces the helicopter to fly BETWEEN the hills and mountains to maintain visibility. It becomes a maze that the pilot tries to fly through until the cloud cover (fog) allows the pilot to navigate back over the elevations. On one mission, we were forced lower and lower into the valley until the pilot was forced to land in a farmers field. The mission was canceled for the day and the pilots went back later and recovered the aircraft.
JFK Jr. was a novice, inexperienced pilot with only a VFR rating. He had no business or qualifications trying to fly that night. He was just a rich boy and his toy. The pilot flying for Kobe was an instructor, and had more that 8000 hours of experience in that aircraft. He couldn't have been more qualified. His mistake was letting his superstar client convince him to fly in conditions not suitable for flying.
People that don't know what they are talking about should keep quiet.
All kinds of fans are going to the crash site and gather up dirt and fragments to honor him, (or to sell on eBay) sick people.
Northwest Woodsman: A good landing is one that you can walk or crawl away from. A better landing is when you can use the aircraft the next day. Neither was accomplished here. Helicopters are known for being poor platforms for flying in poor visibility conditions. You can bet this was pilot error as he got in weather beyond his abilities, vertigo set in and he lost control. Vertigo related to weather conditions and equipment failure almost caused me to eject over the Chesapeake bay one foggy, rainy December night. Luckily, I spotted the flash of runway strobes at Andrews Air Force base and that most likely saved my life..
Barnum Bailey said it Best: There's a Sucker Born Every Minute !
It wasn’t close to clearing anything! It was not “flying” any more when it came down.
It was traveling at a speed of 170+ miles per hour with very little forward momentum.
Something catastrophic happened to cause such rapid descent.
With ALL his $$$$$$$$ he should have had that Copter
FULLY LOADED with all the perks !!! Fatal Mistake
Should have had two pilots at all times , with all his money !!!!
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