The Kobe Bryant crash | Page 6 | FerrariChat

The Kobe Bryant crash

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by Juan-Manuel Fantango, Jan 27, 2020.

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  1. jcurry

    jcurry Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I always found it very tempting to look outside when flying IFR, especially when entering clouds, climbing/descending into/out of a deck. It is just cool looking when you are in the front (vs being a pax in back). However this can be very dangerous, and it is important to transition to instruments well before entering actual IMC. In a situation like this accident the desire to get to VFR and anticipating breaking out could be very disorienting. Climbing up through a deck the air gets brighter well before you break out and could lead to spatial disorientation if looking out trying to see blue sky.
     
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  2. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

    Feb 1, 2011
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    On this website they're claiming it can cause a flameout:

    http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/propulsion/q0293.shtml

    IDK how accurate that is, or what the stats are. But we know that the pilot's intention was to climb to 4,000' . The ship never reached that altitude, and instead began a steep dive, which ended in the crash. Loss of power could certainly be a possible cause.
     
  3. donv

    donv Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Believe what you want to believe, but the S-76 is a twin engine helicopter, and loss of power just means that they would climb slower in this case.

    Sure, it might be mechanical failure, or maybe they were hit by a meteorite... why not?

    By far the most likely cause was loss of control due to pilot disorientation, going too fast, possibly with flicker vertigo as a contributing factor in the tops of the clouds. For some reason, everyone wants to think it was some sort of mechanical failure, and the odds of that happening at that exact moment are just astronomical. He may well have spotted a sucker hole and tried to descend back into VFR conditions... we'll probably never know all of the factors involved.
     
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  4. INRange

    INRange F1 World Champ
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    The preponderance of available evidence shows that the pilot became disoriented and lost control of the helicopter. The NTSB has already ruled out engine failure and the impact of the aircraft into the terrain indicated that the rotors, transmissions and engines appeared to be working nominally. As several very experienced Fchat members have suggested.....at his altitude.......time was not his friend.

    Perhaps he saw something and veered away and in veering away he pulled the collector hoping to get some altitude which resulted in the aircraft plummeting without a visual orientation. I believe when something happens like that it is very hard to keep your eyes on the gauges and not looking out the glass.

    It was an avoidable tragedy.
     
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  5. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    I don't see any evidence of pilot disorientation. The tower gave him instructions to climb to 4000'. He clearly acknowledged 4000'. He began the climb, but stopped at 2,300'. With 8,000 hours of flight time, I'm pretty sure he would know how to read the altimeter. In fact he had been calling out his altitude. Can the S-76B climb with one engine ? I'm not so sure.

    Also, a witness to the crash saw the ship heading for the hill. He said that it rolled to the point where he could see the belly. But still couldn't avoid the impact. I've seen helicopters do some pretty amazing things.
     
  6. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    A flameout wouldn't necessarily show any engine damage. I doubt if he could see anything in the fog pictured. You could certainly argue that he shouldn't have gone out in the first place.
     
  7. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    Just about any engine type it can be determined if it was under power when it came to a very sudden stop. After all these years I would expect FAA investigators can tell that.
     
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  8. donv

    donv Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I guess I have to bow to your superior knowledge.
     
  9. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    They still haven't come to a final conclusion yet. And the ship could have had some power, but not full power.


    What some of the witnesses have said:

    To Colin Storm, who was in his living room in Calabasas, California, where the helicopter went down in foggy conditions at around 10 a.m. local time, it "sounded like a low-flying airplane or helicopter,” he told CBS affiliate KPIX-TV in San Francisco. “Ït was very foggy so we couldn’t see anything,” he told KPIX. “But then we heard some sputtering, and then a boom.”

    "It didn't sound right and it was real low. I saw it falling and spluttering. But it was hard to make out as it was so foggy," said Jerry Kocharian.

    Tony Imbrenda, from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said emergency services were first alerted to the crash by a group of mountain bikers, who spotted the aircraft "in distress" and found it smouldering on the hillside.
     
  10. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    You had better call FAA and set them straight.

    My money is he was distracted by the unicorn standing on that ridge.
     
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  11. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    I wonder if by flying that low birds could have been spooked, one got sucked through an engine intake and caused a flame out and yaw from the power differential. Dunno. Sad.
     
  12. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    Both engines drive the main rotor through a series of gears. So I don't think it would affect yaw, but it would cut the power in half.
     
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  13. bball16

    bball16 F1 Rookie
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    Hs there been any talk of a funeral? I know they have mentioned a public service at The Staples Center, but I’ve never heard anything about an actual funeral.
     
  14. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    For the Bryants it was last week Friday. Private funeral.
     
  15. ChipG

    ChipG Formula 3

    May 26, 2011
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    Santa Monica, CA
    Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were buried in a private funeral service on Friday, Feb 7, 2020, according to reports. Citing Kobe Bryant's death certificate, the local Fox affiliate KTTV and Entertainment Tonight said the funeral was at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, California.
     
  16. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

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    I read about this today. I'm glad it was private for the family's sake and not a huge spectacle for the basketball players and fans and the media more importantly. At the end of the day he was a family man.
     
  17. Bob Parks

    Bob Parks F1 Veteran
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    I must have learned something from flying with a couple of fully qualified IFR -IMC pilots when we were in IMC. When I was forced into an IMC condition when I wasn't IMC trained or qualified I must have relied on the the essential requirement to lock your eyes onto the panel and burn a hole in it. When we were flying an airplane with nothing but basic instruments, maybe 5 or 6 , all I could think of was to set the tach, compass, altimeter, skid ball, and airspeed and make sure they stayed there . I was worried about an increase in airspeed, a change in compass heading, and altimeter. It was the max in pucker factor because my wife was in the back seat and trusted me. I was lucky enough to pass through the heavy rain squall without hitting anything, I had a good idea of what was around us but still I wanted to get clear of the squall and stay over the road. Big relief to see the light increase and finally break out in fairly good shape. Then we had to get over Siskiyou Summit and that was another struggle but made it by flying over some hot rocks and using ridge lift. Once across the summit we faced a cloud deck below us and I figured that we would have to make a cautious let down over the valley on the other side. Then we both saw it and yelled, " There it is!". A hole through which I made a split-S and got contact with the fir tree covered knoll on the other side. My painting of "Sucker Hole" was inspired by our experience at Siskiyou and was named by Ernie Gann when he saw it...."Iv'e been there." As Terry said, sucker holes have killed a lot of pilots trying to go underneath trying to maintain contact.
     
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  18. Nurburgringer

    Nurburgringer F1 World Champ

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    Here's another non-official flight sim recreation, more theatrical than the first one posted, focusing on the middle part of the flight, and with helpfully annotated radio exchanges (not all apparently in real time though; the transmission from SCT saying he's "too low for flight following" appears to happen right before he starts the final climb, while the other video with real time audio places that transmission over 3 minutes before the climb starts) and exterior POV:
     
  19. jcurry

    jcurry Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Birds are generally smart and don't fly in bad weather (IFR). But a seasoned IFR pilot will always have a duck and cat on-board.
     
  20. jcurry

    jcurry Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I think you contradict yourself. The items you mention ARE consistent with pilot disorientation.
     
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  21. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    What if the pilot lost power, was unable to complete the climb and went into an irreversible dive ?
     
  22. jcurry

    jcurry Two Time F1 World Champ
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    He would not have been able to pull perform the roll/avoidance manuever you refer to.
     
  23. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    The maneuver obviously didn't work. What if he only had one engine running ? The NTSB report didn't mention tip curl in the Number 1 engine.
     
  24. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    Out on the ranch when you hear hoof beats logic suggests looking for zebras is a waste of time.
     
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  25. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

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    Nest Cam Audio

     

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