You escape death everyday. Thats why some people never do high risk things in order to minimize their chances. And thats what makes high risk takers, take more risk.
@Haley Owens. As well as sticking to a previously established stance or position. Both are equally, stunningly true. Each decision has kind of its own butterfly effect, its determinations and possibilities, at multiple scales. We have to figure a way through. Thank you for the comment.
what if I tell you that they killed Kobe? it takes two to three years to plan this. I feel really bad about the pilot. those souls have no idea someone rig Kobes helicopter. they just don't care whoever rides with him. too bad that her daughter was there. when money works. whoever you are, you will going down. - iluminati
There were multiple air traffic controllers talking to him at different phases. They will all be interviewed. I doubt they'll have anything revealing to say. The most crucial part of the mystery is the last minute of flight or so. The NTSB will determine the cloud height from photos people took. They might possibly retrieve some computer data from the avionics (not likely given the post crash fire)
Sadly, did the pilot’s wealth of previous experience allow him to not make the most conservative decision? (Not to fly in such foggy conditions) Maybe considering his level of expertise, navigating the fog wouldn’t be a huge risk, but in my opinion, when dealing with flying vehicles, you should always make THE MOST conservative decision. There is no margin for error. May everyones souls who perished in the crash, rest in peace. What a gut-wrenching tragedy.
I know that it isn't ideal, but in the kind of conditions he was flying in, the moment he can no longer visually see the freeway that he said he was going to follow, he should park the thing.
Yep. Should've cancelled the basketball game. Even if there's a chance of fog it's not worth the risk. I just hope others learn from this tragedy. Personally I wouldn't live in LA because of the insane traffic. But that's just me.
@@samboslc yeah I agree intentions on what at that point it was a life or death situation the controller could hear him while we couldnt on the recording? He knew his intentions cause he could hear we were the ones that couldn't!!
Hey NBC, you should be giving credit to @VASAviation who quickly put together the video with ATC transmissions that was used by the expert in this broadcast.
@@DoctorSpicy the only "imbecile" is you for drawing conclusions without all the facts you idiot. It very well could have been pilot error, or a sudden drop could have been mechanical fail, or maybe a seagull got in one of the propeller blades or maybe kobe through a water bottle at him. We won't know for sure for months dumazz
For everyone who have not flown in the greater Los Angeles area, it is VERY crowded with aircraft. Van Nuys and Burbank at one time were the most active general aviation airports in the WORLD!!!!. Flight following in that area is based on the local geography. There are locations where radar cannot see the aircraft, when they are that low to the ground. The pilot of the chopper made the flight across the valley below the fog!!!!, under special flight rules. As he flew west toward the 101 freeway the ground elevation began to increase. To maintain ground clearance he flew up into the fog, became lost, lost his orientation, was still very close to the ground,zero time to recover,and crashed. Very very sad.
terry shutt What you Posted makes sense. I saw videos of just how thick that fog was, it was Marine Fog, the Pacific Ocean was on the other side of those ridges. Why he decided to fly into the mess is beyond me. As you said he flew into the fog, became lost, lost his orientation, and crashed. Apparently he "thought" he was over the 101 freeway, but he was not. A bad decision on his part got everyone killed.
@George Martin He was with the charter company he worked for 10 years. A Representative of that company said he was the "Head" Pilot. Charter work is spotty. Flying any aircraft has a degree of risk. Anyone that routinely risks the lives of their clientele is not worthy of having a pilot's license. The Press interviewed the Pilot that flew Kobe for years before this last guy and he said that Kobe NEVER Pressured him to fly. The pilot is the one that made the decision to fly or not. That said, after reviewing as many videos I could find in order to get a handle on the conditions at the time, the Clouds along the Coast were as thick as cement. Marine Fog. He didn't leave himself an out. If he had "Get-there-idous", he got everyone killed.
so the tower at socal got the last conversation that was not recorded, so maybe journalists should interview those people at the tower or least the man on the other end.
The recordings you have heard are recordings captured by aviation enthusiasts who record air traffic control frequencies 24/7. Due to this, they miss some transmissions due to the location of their receiver. However, ATC has their own recordings which are much higher fidelity and will pick up the missing parts we haven’t heard yet. And “SoCal” isn’t a control tower, it’s a TRACON. Different role.
Agreed! I live in Orange County and on the night before Sunday morning (sat 25)fog was extremely heavy around 10pm which seemed very unusual to me given the fact that we don’t get fog that heavy especially at night. I couldn’t even see my neighbors homes. I could only imagine how much heavier it was in the hills of Calabasas
It’s called “controlled flight into terrain”. It unfortunately happens all the time when pilots make poor decisions and fly in weather they should not have been flying in. This was pilot error.
The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed into a rugged hillside outside Los Angeles was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers. They should have never been in the air period... If emergency helicopters were grounded due to conditions so should have been Kobe’s... No exceptions. His pilot should have never agreed to take them up.
Isn’t it also possible this was not CFIT and the pilot had lost control of the chopper due to spatial disorientation due to suddenly finding himself in the middle of a cloud. The NTSB has said he ascended and turned in an attempt to get out of the cloud cover. Shortly after there was a very rapid descent which could also be consistent with him having lost control. That’s not hard to do in a helicopter when pilot doesn’t have adequate visual feedback and is essentially flying without instruments in IFR conditions. Of course we’re all speculating, but if I’m understanding this correctly there’s no clear evidence he just flew it into the side of a mountain or something.
Yes, even without a ground warning system, an altimeter should have given him at least a sense of how close he was to the ground. Also, from the tone of the ATC’s voice, it doesn’t sound like he’s getting any responses from the helicopter during the last seconds.
Exactly, that pilot didn't make an executive aka final decision. Ppl's lives didn't become his #1 priority. I wonder was he trying 2 impress KB bc that's his rich clientele. I wonder did any of those grown adults with kids speak up.
It's difficult for all of us and tragic and hard we r all entitled to ur opinions however what if how about its very horrible n teagic im devastated myself #Giannamambalive4everkobe#
many pilots get fired when they dont do what theyre told and you're presuming the pilot was in error, which is pretty stupid. most likely is there was a mechanical issue. Period
@@JP-in4zq God knows best the damage is sadly already done whatever the cause is now we all have to keep the remaining families in our prayers and hope to God social media post don't wreck them.God keep them all safe..sigh.
Uhmmm...he didn't want to admit that the plane dropped...hence, the lost signal from the pilot to the tower. Yesterday, the last one way contact clearly stated the helicopter was too low. It's clear that they dropped right after the pass to the last tower....why the sudden drop?
I concur, i get it. I like the way he's explaining it to us I understand it better I think. But I'm still heartbroken for all thee passengers on board the Helicopter, especially the three babies (young girls 😥😥😥)
When the pilot knew he was too low for help he had no choice but to go even lower to get out of that fog so he could rely on his own sight to continue. He couldn’t use the instruments so he had to get a visual to continue on safely. Obviously, the fog was so extremely dense he simply couldn’t know the mountains were right there. The thing that has me confused is that he didn’t appear to hit the top or even the middle of the mountain head on. It looks like they hit the very bottom of that hill, almost suggesting it nose dived straight down to the ground. I can’t figure out why he seems to have just gone straight down to the ground. It would be easier to understand had he just been flying and inadvertently struck the middle or top of the mountain. What is so striking is how composed he seems. I know these professionals are well trained not to panic but as bad as the visibility was, he gave no indication that he was starting to get extremely worried or feel panicked or disoriented in any way. When it’s all said and done and all the investigating is completed, we just want it all to be undone. We want to go back and correct what happened. It’s as though taking a journey through their flight path will somehow miraculously allow us to change course or make different decisions that will bring us the outcome we want so desperately.....we just want to redo all of it and for them to arrive at their destination safely. This is just so awful. All I can do is think about Vanessa, the three girls and his parents.
He likely didn’t sound panicked because he couldn’t see the danger they were in, which is exactly the point. He didn’t know, hence wasn’t concerned. Plus, they nearly cleared hitting that mountain by 20/30ft which suggests they likely hit nearer the top and rolled down, as opposed to hitting the bottom as you suggest. Have a nice day :)
Hmmmm, Also I'm guessing this PILOT, was not aware of the EQUIPMENT that was in this AIR CRAFT, and maybe just not having any experience flying in the fog, I mean how often does it get that foggy in LA, especially that DENSE!!!
@@treniesablunt IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) prevailed. He should have been full IFR (Instrument Flight Rules). My guess is he didn't have an Instrument Rating...
The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed into a rugged hillside outside Los Angeles was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers. They should have never been in the air period... If emergency helicopters were grounded due to conditions so should have been Kobe’s... No exceptions. His pilot should have never agreed to take them up.
He was scud running and flew VFR into IMC conditions. My guess is spatial disorientation because of the fog and he stalled the helicopter on his 180 degree turn.
I couldn't imagine how the victims felt moments before it happened, I wish they all would have survived this, it's just so sad, the pilot should of just did an emergency landing...
Really? You don't think a highly experienced licenced pilot would have done that in a situation that warranted such a response? There were clearly other things going on here.
Just drive two hours to the game on a quiet Sunday morning drive. On a day like that, I can't believe not one person said, "the weather is bad today, and too dangerous to fly". Either we drive or just miss the game altogether. Easy. And this whole tragedy would've been avoided.
I would have said let’s drive instead. I’m freaked out by small planes and helicopters. They flew to Thousand Oaks almost every weekend and it sounds like they had flown there the day before on Saturday for a tournament. The pilot thought he could handle it. Kobe had flown by helicopter hundreds of times. They didn’t stop and think about it. It’s like they forgot they were taking a risk in that weather.
Kobe frequently used a helicopter for short distances like to the staples center while he was a laker. I cant help but think what a huge risk he was taking every time he did that but he was a known risk taker
Robin Krop Yes, I agree. The pilot probably flew in foggy conditions many times. These clouds were lower to the ground and they were at the most terrain filled area of the trip. Dangerous combination.
True..maybe an instant of that somethings wrong feeling..but it was probably to quick..pilot couldnt see and flying through clouds..and WAM! hit the side of the mountain.
Can somebody pls interview this last air controller to find out if he heard him screaming for help, what was the pilot saying, etc. interview this man at once and provide that report
holio if I would like to hear from the last air controller it is my business because I wanna know but what’s not your business is worrying about my request. The air controller can hopefully ease the unknown for his family friends and fans and that’s on that!
I was coming from santa Clarita and around the intersection of the 14 and the 5 freeway it was extremely foggie I couldn't see nothing you become desoriented in a car driving at 7O MPH imagine in a helicopter flying at 180 MPH ,I totally think it was human error ,that model of helicopter has 2 engines and had an amazing relaibility and low accidents.
This was the part I couldn’t understand. If there was that much fog, why did the pilot never mention it?? The controllers asked about visibility twice if I remember correctly and both times nothing about fog.
In very risky weather conditions they chose to "beat the LA traffic" on Sunday AM, where practically there wasn't any traffic especially in carpool lane. They needed to cover about 80 miles by road. Collective poor judgement. May they rest in peace.
An accident waiting to happen. I live near JW, Airport. up early going to church, the fog was very heavy. Should have never been in a copter. The pilot made the mistake to fly and killed these people. Traveling in unknown territory, following the freeways to stay away from the surrounding mountains...like flying blindfolded, He got disoriented and slammed into the mountain. Didn't know what hit em. 150 miles per hr impact. He had the money for all the bells and whistles for warning to put on this copter. Traffic was slow on Sun morning... take a limo...
@@johfertitta5233 you are trying to be funny, my comment assumed that all mine people could have traveled by passenger motor vehicle in HOV lane, I didn't imply the impossible that helicopters can travel in HOV lane, this brilliance is all your own
@Wire haired Dachshund you fail to notice that this flight originated from John Wayne airport, which is 47 seconds drive from 405 freeway. Save your banter until you get some clue. People do what they want and chose including killing themselves.
He ran into heavy heavy fog, when asking for flight following. He could not see anything, needed to go full instrument flying. Trying to see in the unexpected fog got him in trouble. Then lost all bearings.
Even if the fog became thick and he lost all bearings, he still has an altimeter. If you suddenly can't see because of thick fog, your reaction is to perform a left bank decent at 2000ft per minute and at 185mph?
Sounds like the pilot had numerous warnings and didn’t come up with an alternate plan for the flight. When he hovered for 15 minutes waiting for the airspace to clear should have been enough indications that other plans should be considered.
You are exactly right because pausing for 15 minutes going in a figure 8 & many many circles created the circumstances that made him sick with spatial disorientation
He should've went back and made everybody wait til later. He circled LA Zoo six times. Like the other commenter said that could've made him disoriented. That along with the foggy conditions. But he kept on going anyway. Then he kept flying at the same speed instead of flying much much slower. His decision making was not wise across the board. Not wise at all.
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J. Queen seems to me this was all preplanned and a setup. Just how they did aaliyah.
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1ChocletDrop seems to me this was all preplanned and a setup. Just how they did aaliyah.
I live in Fontana, 60 to 70 miles East of where all this happened.... on this Southern California day it was one of the foggiest days we had EVER EVER EVER seen. You did not see the sun until maybe 2pm.. and that fog is worse in that area being closer to the coast. So while you are listening to this video, keep in mind how unusually foggy it was... like... the fog was low... like shit you see in the movies.
This was probably the work of Qasem Soleimani's ghost. He was a military genius after all. Didn't Iran mourned and promised America that they will suffer the same fate? Just 24 days after Qasem's death this happened
uniaguilar I’m a pilot who flies in SoCal all the time. It was much worse in the early morning (as it usually is with the marine layer), but at the time Kobe was flying (9-10am-ish) it was actually quite descent and do-able. The decision to depart John Wayne under VFR was completely reasonable given the reported weather and forecast data. It got worse in the last couple of miles of the flight, and the visibility likely didn’t drop, but the clouds got lower while the terrain got higher. The pilot may have decided to turn around while still visual, but accidentally entered a cloud while turning. The pilot can keep the aircraft under stable control in the clouds, but he can’t see where he’s going and where the obstacles are.
Andrew Grey Their part 135 operation may not have had the authority to conduct IFR flights under their approved rules of operation. Even though the pilot & aircraft were IFR certified, their operating rules would have mandated additional regular IFR training to be able to do that type of flying, and that costs a lot of money for a company based in SoCal where the weather is usually pretty clear. The pilot certainly could enter the clouds as an emergency maneuver, but he would be over an area where he’s not above the minimum IFR altitude for that area, so he has no great idea of where to navigate to. Happened fast, probably. The helicopter may have also not been kept IFR certified (for example, broken attitude indicator). It’s perfectly legal to fly with certain avionics or equipment inoperative as long as you address the inoperative equipment in compliance with regulations.
Not sure if everyone understood this but in the end we could only hear half of the conversation, but the controller was definitely talking to the pilot.
So if the controller was talking to him why haven’t we interviewed the last controller who got to talk to him before they went down and let us know what was said since the recording couldn’t pick it up?
Maybe someone can explain this as I am confused. If the pilot was following the the 5 north, then the 118 west, the 101 is on the other side of the valley. He would have had to deviate from the 118 and fly across the valley, and it seems to me it would have taken more time. And why didn't he just continue on the 118 and go through camarillo via the 23?
Mr.Inferno especially if he had really had vfr conditions. When he was circling the zoo before that one airport looked to be shitty conditions for vfr rules. Obviously he could not use IFR flight with this flight path or did he not have ifr ratings or did this helicopter just did not have the lad test and greasiest equipment to use autopilot. But why did he bank 180 so hard and not keep heading straight forward on same heading ? A lot of different scenarios. He could of headed into the milk fog started climbing freaked out and was like I got to turn around ?
I asked the same question I read somewhere that the 101 is a more direct route or simplier route to follow, and the 118 is more windy road or curvy, just what I read.
@J G agreed. Definitely the main route out to Ventura county. It appears to me like the sense fog his the aircraft suddenly which had the pilot turn west...he became disoriented very quickly.
Janet Stone his analogy and explanation is in correct. He has it wrong. The pilot broke out of the fog to realized he was too close to terrain. The helicopter was traveling too slow for the aggressive left bank he made. Remember a helicopter relay on vertical lift and forward motion. When he banked left under low speed he slipped out and fell to the ground.
Actually the 1-way description is full of assumptions, and possibly 100% wrong. Based on this audio, there's NO indication the pilot ever checked in with SoCal (you would hear SoCal acknowledge that, and we hear ALL of SoCals transmissions). His reasoning of why we dont hear the helicopter could be true, but it's a leap. The fact the pilot changed his transponder code to VFR (1200) indicates he thought he was done receiving ATC services, even though VNY just asked him if he wanted services from SoCal and he said yes. Sorry friends and family of the pilot, but he did poorly here.
There are "microphones" in the surrounding area? That would record nothing else but birds chirping and the sound of the rotors. That's an "expert" mistake. Did he mean radio receivers? If so, then are there radio transmitters too? Without that ATC might hear what we didn't hear - as this "expert" speculates - but the pilot would have heard ATC, so still no two-way communication. Anyway, it's an interesting theory. He also made the mistake to say the previous ATC was the last one the pilot talked to, then told us the next ATC is talking with the pilot, but we don't hear it... this does not add up. Might be true, but this guy is definitely contradicting himself and using the wrong terms. Maybe he dressed up in that awkward suit to give the impression of being an expert...
Some reports say he was climbing in altitude to avoid a cloud layer right before the crash. Maybe the angle of attack was too much which caused a retreating blade stall, and the stall caused the pilot to lose control and dive down and to the left?
Either way Pilots error most likely due to disorientation. At the rate of speed it was going down I doubt the passengers had anytime to react or knew what was happening and were dead upon impact.
Yea, they need to talk to the controller from SoCal. The guys doesn’t know if he actually made contact. This seem like he was trying to get information and the pilot wasn’t responding
An obvious disconnect between the aviation expert and the reporter about “too low for flight following”. The reporter is trying to read way too much into that statement from the controller. Flight following is a traffic information service requested by the pilot while operating the aircraft under visual flight rules, but the controllers do not have to accept the request and often deny based on workload and where the aircraft is located. If the aircraft is in an area with sketchy radar coverage, it is better for the controller to refuse the request than everyone (including the pilot) deal with the annoyance of dropping off radar then picking up, then dropping, etc. where I fly there are many areas where air traffic controllers will deny flight following if I am below 8,000 or 10,000 feet altitude because they know radar coverage is just too spotty in that area. This was not a terrain alert, just a controller explaining why he was denying flight following and that is *all* the controller was saying when he told the helicopter it was “too low for flight following”.
@e james the marine layer is a thick layer of fog that comes from the ocean. I think you misused the word. The marine layer/fog is what caused the crash
@e james My speculation (I'm just a regular person with no special aviation education ) from what the analyst said and the recording, was that the SoCal controller told the pilot that he was too low for flight follow from that specific controller. Not in general.
@e james get cute with it? Relax you're assuming. It was a mistake. The best pilots make mistakes. It's clear, he was going too fast and the fog disoriented him. Fog does that on ground, can only imagine 1400ft above the ground. From open canoga park to the area he died in the santa Monica mountains is about 10 miles so he probably approached too quickly if he was going 180 mph. The way he came into Calabasas/SM mountains was from the north east, so the mountains were on the right and he had city on his left. He made a sharp left about a mile into the santa monica mountains. Shit happens
@@59kobain this seems right.. So Sorry for them, even if the pilot made a mistake, i mean, he just wanted to do his Job and I am sure he did not want these kids to get killed.. People are commenting bad about him in other Videos, but its not like the pilot survived, he is DEAD too.. tragic
What the pilot needed to 2 do really was turn around and go back. Go sit down somewhere until that fog cleared. He needed to tell them b4 they got on helicopter NO we're not going nowhere until that fog clears 1st. When he circled around LA Zoo six times that was his wake up call. No but he decided to continue on going. Then he kept flying at the same speed instead of slowing the hell down. He didn't make an executive decision. He might've been trying to impress KB, his rich clientele. He didn't put ppls lives 1st. Come 2 find out the sun came up and the fog cleared 1 hour after the accident. That says he definitely could've made everybody wait Period. Fog always clear sooner or later.
If anything he shouldn't have asked for flight following, that made him go into the clouds to get radar contact, he should have just stayed where he could see the ground.
pilot was acting like idiot, shoulda known to turn back , there was no visual at interstate highway, so his stupid self banked left and then lost orientation
zobayan supposed to follow the interstate road route, it had no obstructions or hills, instead he decided to underestimate the elements instead of turining back, out of a silly stupid reason probably to impress the people
From what I saw the pilot was flying fine then encountered some heavy fog then tried to make 180 because its too foggy then the pilot didn’t realize there was a tall mountain he was running to because of the fog.
Zeon Razer just my thought but I’ve flown in the area many years. I believe what happened is that the pilot experienced fog and could not descent any more so he decided to climb. When he did and entered the fog, he did not appropriately transition to his flight instruments. Radar shows a climb and decrease in airspeed. He likely experienced spatial disorientation (which can occur quickly). As a result, the pilot caused the helicopter to enter a descending left turn. The aircraft then entered a 5000 foot per minute descent and increased its airspeed to 175 knots (a dive per the NTSB). The aircraft collided with the terrain at the base of the cloud layer (per the witness wearing the TWA hat).
joshlawill it was likely not intentional. When a pilot experiences a loss of spatial orientation due to clouds or fog, he can see nothing outside of the aircraft. When that happens, if a pilot does not quickly and effectively reference his flight instruments, he will not realize the attitude of the aircraft. So, even though he thinks the aircraft is straight and level, for instance, he may initiate a turn, descent or climb and not even know it.
@@jamesweigh3178 Basically this pilot was and IDIOT, you can sense in his voice that he was unsure of himself and sweating having to fly in the fog for these clients. Maybe he realized he was not up to snuff to fly on instruments only if the had to.
“Too low for flight following” is commonly heard for a low-flying helicopter that can’t be seen on radar. Nothing unusual about that. It’s perfectly fine for a helicopter to be flying at 500ft AGL.
JOHN BOYAJY he asked for flight following while he was still visual. He entered a cloud accidentally in only the last 30 or so seconds of the flight. Being too low for flight following simply means radar can’t find you. This isn’t abnormal. If there was any poor judgement, it was in the last 2-3 minutes of the flight, because whether at Van Nuys was adequate for what he was doing. There was no reason to scrub the flight due to the weather forecast data I found from the morning of the flight. The pilots eyes would have told him the cloud deck was getting lower than forecasted in that small microclimate area.
@@aviatortrevor you are clueless do you want to be in that helicopter, who are you defending,he couldn't see,VFR is Base on seeing, please the fog was evident he was reckless. period.
@@TheBatmanjb We don't know the level of visibility. The pilot flew most of the flight under Special VFW. Last we get to hear, he switched from Special VFR, to VFR conditions. Meaning, the visibility improved. It may have suddenly got worst again. But that communication is unfortunately not available for us. But what we do know is for some reason, the copter descended at 2000ft per minute and at 185mph. If he suddenly lost visibility, I'm not understanding why his reaction would be to descend quickly. And even without visibility, the copter still has an altimeter. You will know the difference from ascending and descending.
At 1:03 you can hear the exhaustion in the pilots voice, then at 5:06 you can hear a slight hesitation & nervousness in his voice, he was probably getting disoriented from the extended holding/circling in flight
I can only imagine what the pilot’s family is going through. They must be getting a lot of kobe fans blaming him. They shouldnt have released his name.
I agree circling for 15 minutes and got confused as to which way to turn... should’ve landed in Glendale called a driver and kept it moving....Airplanes don’t circle they hover. Don’t think he knew where he was at that point.
A tragedy purely preventable. Kobe could have moved his Mamba Sports Academy to beautiful Orange County and sounds like Pilots error due to disorientation or that ridiculous rapid ascend caused the engine to stall. I hate this loss because it didn't have to happen. Do not take chances; a 2 hour drive wouldn't have killed them but ironically the flight did. A tragic loss of beautiful life.
You can have all the experience in the world and have an accident. Weather conditions are different each day and some days fog is heavier some days than others. No doubt in my mind the pilot has flew in fog but Sunday morning fog was probably a lot heavier. He figured he could get Kobe and the crew to the game so he stuck with it and ran into a slight situation that he just couldn’t get out of. Unfortunately it cost the lives of 9 people. Things happen in life and it’s tragic that this had to happen to these people and to a person like KOBE BRYANT. But this was simply HUMAN ERROR. RIP TO ALL WHO WERE ON BOARD AND THE FAMILIES WHO ARE GRIEVING DURING THIS TRAGEDY 🙏🏽😢
An accident waiting to happen. I live near JW, Airport. up early going to church, the fog was very heavy. Should have never been in a copter. The pilot made the mistake to fly and killed these people. Traveling in unknown territory, following the freeways to stay away from the mountains... He got disoriented and slammed into the mountain. Didn't know what hit em. 150 miles per hr impact. He had the money for all the bells and whistles for warning to put on this copter. Traffic was slow on Sun morning... take a limo...
I read that this particular helicopter was leased by Kobe, but owned by Island Express; and it was not equipped with a moutain terrain warning system. I also read that Sikorsky has developed retro-fit auto-pilot systems for its vehicles. See, Island Express was too cheap to update their fleet. If Kobe owned the vehicle, you know he would have paid for state of the art safety equipment. Profit motives....
Yep. One bad situation with little outs and seconds to make the decision, and hope it's the right one. Anyone can fuck that up. Ina. Tight space, with that big heli, with that altitude and probably 0 Visuals. Man
He was too low the terrain can be as high as the ceiling he instead of going str8 turned a sharp left ran right into the side of the mountain he was clearly disoriented due to fog he was really way too low to be flying over there in that particular area it was a recipe for imminent danger to begin with
They keep talking about how low was the helicopter for following, but do not discuss why he was not able to communicate his visibility, it is obvious that the pilot did not have visibility all along, he took chance after chance and ran out of chances
@@lisamarie5918 Because he *did* have visibility? Up until he accidentally entered the cloud in the last minute. Visibility passing Van Nuys was 2.5 miles. That's plenty. Clouds were at 1200ft AGL and he was at 500ft AGL. Plenty of cloud separation.
when you say "obviously the pilot didn't have visibility all along", you are an ignorant twat. We know for a fucking fact what the weather was at Van Nuys, which is only like 2 minutes from Calabasas. Van Nuys reported 2.5 miles visibility and 1200ft ceilings. That is more than enough visibility. That's seeing an entire minute ahead of your path at this helicopter's top speed of 150 knots. The helicopter could even slow down to like 60 knots and then have 2.5 minutes of forward visibility. You can drive your car on the freeway with only 15 seconds of forward visibility - enough to be traveling at 70mph and see a car at a complete stop, engage your breaks and use ~13 seconds to slow down at a pretty mild rate, not even jamming on your brakes.
This things happen when a pilot can not say no to his boss and either do not start the helicopter at all or turn back when you see that it’s too risky to continue the flight. Or maybe he said it but was said to fly anyways.
Your "expert" doesn't seem to know what SVFR is. At 3:15 he says the helicopter has to maintain certain distances from clouds. That's wrong if issued a SVFR clearance. That's the whole point of SVFR is that now the VFR aircraft simply can remain "clear of clouds" and no longer has to be 500' below them or 2000' horizontally from clouds, nor does he need 3 SM visibility. Hence the "special" in SVFR. At 8:00 he starts in about microphones all over the place. They are repeaters that allow communications to be relayed from aircraft to SOCAL Approach (ATC) and back, not microphones. Radio repeaters. At 9:40, your expert is totally wrong. The SOCAL controller is questioning the helicopter because the pilot is transmitting 1200 as their transponder code. To flight follow with ATC, you will be assigned a discreet code that shows them your location on radar and you will not use a 1200 code. Don't know what your "expert" is droning on about. Good grief! At 11:00, the communication from ATC was simply letting the pilot know that he could not see him on radar well enough to provide flight following. This is completely normal in hilly and mountainous terrain. Radar is not magic and needs line of sight to get a good return from your aircraft. If ATC can't maintain radar contact with you, they cannot provide flight following. It's not possible to deconflict traffic with an aircraft that you can't see on radar. Your dummy seems clueless here! At 12:50 the guy is babbling about NTSB investigating what is too low for flight following. NO NO NO! The NTSB knows like every other helicopter pilot that in mountainous terrain at any height lower than the surrounding hills and mountains that you likely won't have radar contact, therefore flight following is not possible. They are investigating the cause of the crash, not flight following. Flight following from ATC in uncontrolled airspace is not required. It's a good practice and ATC can help let you know when other traffic they see on radar is near you, issue some advisories regarding hazardous weather information, and help with any emergency communications should they be needed.
Exactly! I know nothing about aviation, but I am a jury consultant who is an expert on communications and I could see from a mile away that the expert did not know what "flight following" really is and he started making stuff up about rules the NTSB needed to investigate. You are correct that flight following cannot be done because the radar cannot follow the aircraft well enough at that height with surrounding hills. Expert here should be terribly embarrassed by people seeing him bluff about his knowledge here.
Probably better off listening to aircraft control. Had he kept going and been "better off" he would possibly wreck the planes. He's frustrated that he has to wait... Yes. But he wouldn't be better off ignoring his only lifeline to what is going on in the air and what else is flying that could hit him. Besides a mountain.
Hmmmm, yes you could tell he was annoyed a bit, but now he's going to jeopardize SAFETY , why didn't he just stopped and WAITED and if HE got to his destination later, oh well....
I was in California that weekend in SanFrancisco and Oakland. On Friday when we came across the Bay Bridge you couldn’t see the Golden Gate at all. When we finally drove across the Golden gate a while later you could barely see the bridge driving across it and you couldn’t see any water or anything else. The fog was so thick that weekend throughout Cali that it had to be dangerous everywhere. Why was he even flying at all. It just seems so senseless. My prayers go out to Vanessa and her kids and all the others on the copter. Someone should have grounded that chopper.
I'm blaming all this on the pilot. At some point it had to kick in that he can't see through the fog. He should have just landed the helicopter. Did he even think about the passengers on board.
That's the same thing I keep saying, he made the ultimate decision to continue on in cloudy/foggy weather that he should of turned that chopper around or landed it period! Bad decision making has changed alot of lives forever.
@@TheBooty28 Yes you do panic in a crisis situation, but why put yourself in a crisis situation in the first place when no other helicopters are allowed to fly.
To those saying he shouldn't have flown in the fog, please understand that thick fog can roll in from the canyons that is like a milky cloud. It is often clear as day in the valley where he was coming from. The fog cloud could have come out of nowhere and once he flew into it he tried everything but maybe got disoriented and it was too late.
I was in Thousand Oaks (Kobe's destination area), around 10:30a and had driven past Calabasas (Kobe's crash site) a little bit after 10a that Sunday morning, and fog was very thick/day was gloomy/sky was grey. I actually was able to partially see the rescue chopper off near the mountains as I drove by on the 101N. I had no idea then the terrible news that awaited all of us as I took my daughter to a snowday event at a local school in Thousand Oaks. What I cannot fathom is why the pilot would've insisted to fly under special VFR in such conditions when he could've taken the alternate route the ATC had given him..?? Why didn't he follow the 118W?? As much as it's tough to blame the pilot because he perished too, it just keeps becoming clearer and clearer that his overconfidence is what inevitably cost them all their lives. ..may their souls rest in iternal peace.. 😢😭💔
@KeRon Tucker just like EVERYONE else including EXPERTS, I am speculating based on details as they've been released. Where often times pilot error can immediately be dismissed, in this case, it is an actual REAL POSSIBILITY. A prominent Aviation Attorney drew the same conclusion given preliminary information released including ATC audio between the pilot.
@KeRon Tucker the NTSB is NOT speculating because it's their job to fully investigate. I am referring to other experts in the field of aviation. But whatever floats your boat...
They were only 17 miles away from their destination so that's minutes away he was trying to fly through those range of hills/mountains following the 101 and got caught in the fog so he tried climbing out of it.
@KeRon Tucker - clearly #Kobe Bryant's wife #vanessabryant has come to the same conclusion that you seem to want to deny - the accident was PREVENTABLE and is the direct result of pilot error/negligence www.tmz.com/2020/02/24/kobe-bryant-wrongful-death-lawsuit-island-express-helicopters-vanessa-gigi/
This is fishy as hell. The most crucial last minute words of the pilot could all of a sudden NOT be heard. What DID the controller say he said then, since he could hear him but the recording supposedly did not catch?
@@thescribbler495 Yea, he was. He put out the first video of Kobe's Helicopter flight path & crash. That's why everyone news channel & newspaper used his video. His name is on the video.
@Lloyd Bonafide yea he kinda does. He's the one who edited out all the other aircrafts in the area & the other audio just to show Kobe's helicopter path. It's his video, look at the top right of the computer screen, his TH-cam name is on the video. So, he does own the video. Look down at the comments, he even commented saying "I guess I'll call it Fair Use". Besides that, All I meant was He Made that Video & to just thank him. Every other news station & paper used HIS VIDEO. That's all.
Let me save everyone some time. The cause is pilot error. He either got disoriented and flew right into the mountain side, or his turn had a high bank and the helicopter lost lift. Plain and simple, that helicopter should not have been in the air in those conditions.
"his turn had a high bank and the helicopter lost lift" is the only answer that explains the extreme and sudden rate of decent. Pilot suddenly found himself enveloped in fog, tried to turn around rapidly to escape it and the rest is history.... Very sad.
This is nothing more than yet another example of a man being murdered by his money (and, of course, when that happens he ordinarily takes a handful of innocents along with him.) This Toby Bryan apparently had lots of specious wealth, but apparently not enough to hire a COPILOT, not enough to hire a pilot with an IFR ticket, not enough to purchase a full IFR panel (which you need if you're going to fly around the Marine Layer all the time.)...
@@johfertitta5233 You have no idea what your talking about. Kobe's helicopter was a "daily" rental from a helicopter company. They provide all the pilots and details on the helicopter. Kobe didnt own the helicopter and could not order changes to the helicopter, that is for the owner of the rental company to make. The only thing they allowed him to change was the wrap and colors on the outside of the copter. Kobe was a passenger just like all the other passengers. Their lives were in the hands of the pilots, just like passengers on a plane flown by Delta airlines.
Perhaps the passengers were texting loved ones on their cell phones - maybe investigators can get more clues on what happened by looking into their mobile phone text conversations.
Ellie5621 Ok I hear you but if LA had all all copters grounded because of the weather why was Kobe’s still in the air? And if it was that bad how come they never told him to try and land?
How could be a lot of air traffic in the area they said weather was not good enough to fly pilot asked for special permision. so is that mean all the planes and hellicopters asked for a special permission that day. And traffic controller says hold other traffic has to be passed what traffic people saw only 1 hellicopter on that time .
Spatial disorientation is defined as the inability of a pilot to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the Earth or other points of reference. ( flying VFR to IFR ).
@@skyboy1956 I DON'T know mannn!!, it just hurt to see something like this happen... No need to debate.. We all want answers that can't be answered...🤷
It seems like his visibility changed really quick like he flew into dense fog and he got nervous because he couldn't see, tried to go back the other way and lost control 😢
Flying is almost like a truck driver driving on those mnts up and down in the fog and clouds there are rules you must follow what's in place if you don't this is what will happen. The pliot knew way before time he was in trouble he had enough experience to know put the bird down or just don't do the flight before he took off from the airport. I've been on the 118 and the 5 and getting up and down those mnts in high altitudes will make you disoriented because your high in the clouds. And to suddenly speed up to 150 something miles then try to pull up hard was a big mistake. Poor judgment. I know it differs from a truck driver but still when it comes to them clouds and very dense fog it's no joke. All the lives on board could have been saved this didn't have to happen. RIP to all the families that are left to mourn this tragedy.
I think this whole blame game and “this didn’t have to happen” talk needs to stop. Everybody has a time and date they will exit this world. That Sunday morning was just Kobe’s day. It was his time. And its extremely difficult but people will have to accept it.
love prevails everybody will die eventually. everybody has a date. Some live till 100 some live until 13 or 41. Thats life! You cant escape death. No matter what excuse you make. The way you die doesnt change the fact that you will in fact, die! You can live the healthiest life and die in a car accident. When its your time to go, its time. Its God’s will and you cant change that
If there isn't a point of reference, you can literally forget which way is up. Unable to tell if you're banking left or right, up or down. Very scary especially VFR in low visibility
4 ปีที่แล้ว +8
Based on his analysis and based on the weather conditions, this all seems like a setup.
I'm an IT guy who's learned a few facts about flying planes and choppers. This pilot was using an iPad when he was in thick cloud cover, which if he lost track of his instrumentation for looking down or sideways, it's a sure way to crash. Also, there are two golf courses in Malibu. If you're flying somewhere and conditions turn adverse, then you need to have emergency out. Even Harrison Ford has had to land on a golf course, so backing out is the responsible thing to do when eight lives depend on you. Pilot mindset is everything: th-cam.com/video/W0lWsqAwYwY/w-d-xo.html
Wes Porter the way in which the communication system is designed, it’s common not to hear the other side of a conversation. The controller was likely heading the pilot, based on what he was saying. The NTSB will be able to retrieve the entire conversation.
Wes Porter he did inform the controller he was climbing due to clouds (he was probably already in the clouds). This is not heard but the NTSB reported that. It’s unfortunately not odd. Based on everything I’ve read and heard, the pilot should not have departed John Wayne (could have landed at Burbank or Van Nuys) and secured ground transportation. E unfortunately entered the clouds (based on witness statements, likely lost control and crashed.
I know the company wasn't licensed to fly IFR, but if the helicopter was capable, and the pilot had IFR training, why didn't he declare an emergency and switch to IFR controls?
Seems fishy. Right at the transfer to new tower this happens? And we heard the back and forth conversation every other time except right at the end and then the helicopter crashes....come on.
This is my take on running into zero visibility. Highest priority would be safety. Rise up (pop up) and announce you are turning tail or you want permission to fly in restricted space, with instruments. Or you become disoriented and fly askew, straight for the ground.
My guess is this pilot flew into a cloud or heavy fog which caused 0 visibility and instead of switching to IFR (Instrument flight rules) he tried to fly out of the fog without visual references. He banked hard to the left without knowing his position relative to the ground which caused the helicopter to pick up speed. When he finally excited the fog he was to low and going to fast and was unable to avoid crashing into the ground.
Makes sense. Forgot that a hard left bank would increase speed. I was wondering also why he never switched to IFR now we know he was certified to fly IFR but the helicopter's company had not received IFR rating. Pilot reminded tower (in another audio) that Burbank and Van Nuys were IFR so he had to avoid IFR airspace which is exactly what he needed at the time, Which is why he kept requesting flight following because he needed assistance to maneuver the craft safely.
Knowing the Kobe mentality. The dialogue between Kobe and the pilot before taking off went like this... Pilot: pulls Kobe aside* listen Kobe visibility is pretty low, I think we should give it some time before taking off. Kobe: You sure? Pilot: yes, spoke to air control, is a little tough up there. Kobe: call them back see if there anything that can be done. Pilot: well they said, they don’t recommend it but if we have to take off, we would have to do it under special visualization flying guidelines. Kobe: Perfect, have you flown under these conditions before? Pilot: Yes I have but.... Kobe: Done, lets do it. You got it ... you the best at this. Let’s go we running late. Pilot: in a low voice* ok let’s do it. Disclaimer: With all due respect I wrote this. Kobe was my basketball hero growing up. I live, laughed and loved thru his success. I just have a weird gut feeling it went down like this.
It’s a sickening feeling I have too! And he has flown on a helicopter private plane commercials constantly for decades so it was prob just like hopping in the car to him. You just don’t think twice about it
I read somewhere that the chopper lacked TAWS, Terrain Avoidance Warning System, which is optional for passenger helicopters. Is there any truth to that?
@@TONIOFSFV Can you tell everyone how much you paid to watch this content? Zero investment on your part to produce it but full of criticism. Thanks for your 'valuable' contribution.
The people who are at fault for this crash 100% are those that cleared Kobe’s pilot to fly in the first place. Period, Changes need to be made about clearing pilots to fly to avoid disasters like this. No different then when JFK was cleared to fly.
So the people who asked the moron that was flying the helicopter if he could see and he said yes is responsible for the accident? You must really dumb or lack basic intelligence. Which moron speed in an area where there is little to no visibility? I hope you dont have a drivers license because with that brain of yours, you are a danger to other drivers and yourself!
You do not understand the rules. The ultimate responsibility belongs to the pilot in command. The pilot requested and was granted permission to fly under special vfr, which means he must remain clear on the clouds. The pilot should have landed on the freeway if that is what it took to stay out of the clouds. Kennedys never followed the rules, which is why some have driven off a bridge or skied into a tree. Jfk jr was responsible for checking the weather to confirm it would remain within his abilities. Nobody is up there to confirm that he had the proper rating and there are no "road blocks" to have kept him from entering the clouds.
Mark Daniel those are the rules that need to be changed so pilots never ever get in this situation again. The FAA needs to be accountable for every airline and helicopter in the air that pilots are following the rules. Hire more people if it will save a tragedy from this happening ever again.
He was not thrilled when he responded, "Okay, we'll continue holding. 2EX". The pilot knew the weather was bad. Burbank told him the surface area was IFR. Google the transcript of conversation. See below. Burbank airport tower: "Helicopter 2EX, Burbank tower. Burbank altimeter: 30.19. Burbank Class Charlie Surface area is IFR; say intentions."
Pitts S2C Well then the pilot knew before their chance of survival was around 14% when he decided to approach the clouds and fog in VFR. The tower is also trained, why did they not tell him he cannot go there with VFR/SVFR?!
@@katana5562 A pilot only needs special VFR in order to fly through controlled airspace in bad weather which he received approval to do. After that, when he's outside of controlled airspace he goes back to VFR. Then he's completely on his own and it's his choice whether or not to proceed. I think he got caught in the soup, got nervous, dropped the cyclic control to quickly decend and get out of the clouds and ran into the hill. Unfortunately, I think it was that simple. An unfortunate accident that was avoidable. A very bad choice by the pilot to proceed. It's like driving in your car into super foggy weather and not pulling over or turning around.
@@pittss2c601 my take on the way the pilot said okay we'll continue holding was that he seemed a bit annoying by having to wait/continue holding so long not that he seemed nervous.
Exactly my thought, the controllers planned everything to disorient the pilot and lead them into an alternate route into the fog mountains to force a crash
andrew Marcus YES they definitely lead them to crash, which is probably why they only gave us half the recording to listen to. They probably cut out that part.
The big question is why did the pilot leave the 101? And if you look closer at the last few radar positions he was rapidly ascending (not descending) and losing speed .
@@thsu8 no I don't. The saddest part to me is the way he died. The fact that he nearly made it to his destination, was so close that his death could of been avoided if they hadn't gone on the helicopter when they did. And the most saddest thing his wife and 3 kids that are never gonna see there father again. He was supwr young and such a lovinf dad that loved his family. RIP Kobe and gianna
Lindsey Martin well said. I agree, so sudden and tragic to die that way. Why was the helicopter going so fast if the pilot couldn’t see??? I don’t even know how Vanessa keeps living. Saddest part for me is that Kobe was still teaching so many people, his girl’s team of course but countless other players. He was actually DOING things and helping people, not like 99% of retired athletes.
@@thsu8 I have a 3 year old born 12 days after kobes daughter bianka and a 9 month old 2 months older then there daughter Capri and my daughter says every day "mummy I want daddy" where's daddy? it's so heartbraking I can't imagine what she's going threw. Loosing her soul mate and daughter all in 1 day in such a tragic way that could of been avoided and how close they were to there destination thats the thing that hits deep the most. I dont personally know her but i do think of her everyday and just pray for her family. Another thing that hits deep too is how dope gianna was at playing basket ball she definatly would of been a little star like her daddy and now the world is never going to see that happen. Her life was taken way too soon and everyone else that was on board, RIP to them all. Can't stop thinking what it must of been like on the helicopter? How scary it must of been for the pilot knowing your in control of everyones lifes they said it was like trying to open your eyes in a bowl of milk thats how thick the fog was! I wonder why he was going so fast too? Do you think he panicked? Must of been so scary. Just wish it never happened. Your right kobe was doing such good things he seemed like such a lovely person and such a role model as a father. Heart braking
Makes you wonder..@ any time did the passengers know how serious of trouble they were in, Or was they ear phoned up and napping etc being it was a early morning ride....I wonder did they have time to hug each other and say goodbye....I wonder what are final moments like...Truly devasting tragedy!!
I don't think they knew, they probably couldn't feel how fast they were going or see where they were going because the fog and white out came up all of a sudden. I dont think the pilot said anything to make them panick and they didn't see the mountain coming up that they crashed into. Looks like he lost control within seconds and crashed.
So sad. This was an emergency landing situation. No need to continue the trip, wish they called 911 to land the aircraft. My heart goes out to all the passengers and their families.
At 6:39 the pilot is advised to contact SoCal at 134.2, and the pilot responds 34.2? Is he off by 100? Hence no further communication from the pilot with the SoCal tower?
Many are asking "why didn't ATC tell him to...". He was told to remain clear of the clouds and he said that he would and could. At any time, the pilot could have stated that he was unable to remain clear and requested vectors to an airport. The fact that he was not supposed to be in clouds may have warranted penalties, but the penalty would not have been a death sentence for all.
He went to a canyon where no radar beam could bounce off and track. He tried to find a hole instead of making a 180 back to VFR. He probably lied about going in and out of clouds looking for VFR. Special VFR should be used in IFR when you know when you will come out of IFR. For example remain in VFR until your transition. If you enter the soup you had better be in the system, that is IFR. He would have cleared all obstacles and all a/c and been safer. You can get away with this a lot in urban settings, much more light and much more landmarks with higher temperatures keeping fog from getting real dense. Out in the woods, cooler weather. He might have done similar flights in the past and sighed relief when out of the soup. But pilots don't go to the craps table.
@kilahchris Apparently they were not allowed to fly IFR as a Part 135 charter, he entered the clouds illegally, with this model Sikorsky this was the first with fatalities. Pilot was negligent entering in clouds without an IFR clearance....he should have declared an emergency to get the IFR clearance, arrived safely and dealt with the FAA later
They don't talk about how old that plane was that was a very old helicopter Kobe have been using that 20 years all those precious life is this gone so sad and so painful
i imagine they are gonna recreate this exact scenario with another helicopter to see exactly what could of happened and how high and low he could of been for transmissions and the such
There was supposed to be a final transmission from the pilot saying he was going up to 2300 to try and go above the cloud. Wonder how that was known and who heard it.
That was information disclosed by the NTSB in their press conference (the lady from NTSB said that the pilot was trying to clear the clouds by climbing and reached 2300 feet above sea level before descending). The pilot's transmissions were recorded by SoCal which provides the flight following service, and the NTSB would obviously have access to that.
My cousin lives in Las Angelas, CA and she said that fog ain't no joke. She said that when it gets foggy in L.A., you can't see NOTHING. So I can't understand why the pilot got clearance to fly as foggy as it was.
What are your questions? unfortunately what happened is the helicopter unexpectedly malfunctioned and crashed rapidly. There is not much that can be said for this misfortunate day. Rest in peace to every individual in that helicopter.
@@eazy-333 we don't know that! People have said that it was sputtering before it crashed.and the ring door camera audio seems to support that. Either way the company that owned the heli better have the lawyers getting prepared for some massive law suits,as pilot error or mechanical failure will both result in them haven enormous suits coming their way.
@@tomasjankauskas4761 I don't believe it's a mistake.he took that last turn for some reason!! It could have been because the motors were going and he was trying to get to somewhere to land. I'm sure the ntsb will figure it out.
Didn't know that about the microphone, thanks for clarifying that because I'm hearing reports that the pilot told ATC he was climbing up, but we had no audio of that.
The guy is no expert. Wherever the radio was hooked to a computer tlo record the frequency was out of range of the transmitting radio. Ground radios usually have far more power to transmit than aircraft do and antennas can be far larger to get the singal out better. An aircraft being aloft above the terrain only helps to a certain extent.
KeRon Tucker attacking has a variety of meanings, severity levels and implications. Maybe you’ll realize this as you interact with more people who speak the language. Didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to speak because I wasn’t addressed. I wanted to make sure an actual expert wasn’t “debunked” because they didn’t state their experience.
What I want to know is, do the occupants of the helicopter realize something is wrong at this point when he's circling the airport and flying low etc...? When does Kobe and the other's realize there is a problem? No one is saying anything about that .
Frances that’s what I’ve been wondering. Was they aware of the danger they were in, or did the pilot keep it to himself thinking he would figure a way out? I feel as if they knew it was a dangerous situation, but felt confident in the pilot. I wonder if they even knew that they crashed or if it was just an instant boom.
He was circling because he was told to hold his position. When atc tells you to “hold your position” they’re telling you to fly in circles until they tell you you can proceed.
Extremely clear and concise explanation from Mr. Gagliano about what can , and just as importantly cannot, be deduced from the dialogue between ATC and 2EX. Well done!
![Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty [RAW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JPf-vzvvWRI/mqdefault.jpg)
It makes you wonder how many times you’ve unknowingly escaped death by making changes in your decisions
You escape death everyday. Thats why some people never do high risk things in order to minimize their chances. And thats what makes high risk takers, take more risk.
AMEN.....BROTHER I REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR THAT FROM SOMEBODY
@Haley Owens. As well as sticking to a previously established stance or position. Both are equally, stunningly true. Each decision has kind of its own butterfly effect, its determinations and possibilities, at multiple scales. We have to figure a way through. Thank you for the comment.
what if I tell you that they killed Kobe? it takes two to three years to plan this. I feel really bad about the pilot. those souls have no idea someone rig Kobes helicopter. they just don't care whoever rides with him. too bad that her daughter was there. when money works. whoever you are, you will going down.
- iluminati
@@prokopyoespasol3304 idiot
I will consider this fair use
❤
You're too nice to do that. You deserve more credit.
Hello
They did put VASAviation all over their news report. I was surprised yesterday when I saw the video had over 5 million views.
Thanks for not complaining. 🐰
Why don't we get an interview from the person talking to the pilot?
I doubt we ever will. It will just add to the suspicion
I don't think it will be necessary either.
I agree. He heard 2 or 3 replies from the pilot we couldnt hear.
There were multiple air traffic controllers talking to him at different phases. They will all be interviewed. I doubt they'll have anything revealing to say. The most crucial part of the mystery is the last minute of flight or so. The NTSB will determine the cloud height from photos people took. They might possibly retrieve some computer data from the avionics (not likely given the post crash fire)
Because NTSB is still investigating.
Sadly, did the pilot’s wealth of previous experience allow him to not make the most conservative decision? (Not to fly in such foggy conditions)
Maybe considering his level of expertise, navigating the fog wouldn’t be a huge risk, but in my opinion, when dealing with flying vehicles, you should always make THE MOST conservative decision. There is no margin for error.
May everyones souls who perished in the crash, rest in peace. What a gut-wrenching tragedy.
I know that it isn't ideal, but in the kind of conditions he was flying in, the moment he can no longer visually see the freeway that he said he was going to follow, he should park the thing.
Is it true that this pilot was CFii (cert. flight instr. instructor)? Just so tragic and shocking.
Also, can't help but remember SoCal asking pilots intentions at one point; like there was confusion.
Yep. Should've cancelled the basketball game. Even if there's a chance of fog it's not worth the risk. I just hope others learn from this tragedy. Personally I wouldn't live in LA because of the insane traffic. But that's just me.
@@samboslc yeah I agree intentions on what at that point it was a life or death situation the controller could hear him while we couldnt on the recording? He knew his intentions cause he could hear we were the ones that couldn't!!
Hey NBC, you should be giving credit to @VASAviation who quickly put together the video with ATC transmissions that was used by the expert in this broadcast.
Ok guy...more important things going on right now boomer
Yeah wtf. If this was the other way around NBC would be issuing a copyright strike without hesitation.
Vasaviation should do the same.
Credit imbecile Ara for killing everyone.
@@DoctorSpicy the only "imbecile" is you for drawing conclusions without all the facts you idiot. It very well could have been pilot error, or a sudden drop could have been mechanical fail, or maybe a seagull got in one of the propeller blades or maybe kobe through a water bottle at him. We won't know for sure for months dumazz
Yeah to pimp this fake shit
For everyone who have not flown in the greater Los Angeles area, it is VERY crowded with aircraft. Van Nuys and Burbank at one time were the most active general aviation airports in the WORLD!!!!. Flight following in that area is based on the local geography. There are locations where radar cannot see the aircraft, when they are that low to the ground. The pilot of the chopper made the flight across the valley below the fog!!!!, under special flight rules. As he flew west toward the 101 freeway the ground elevation began to increase. To maintain ground clearance he flew up into the fog, became lost, lost his orientation, was still very close to the ground,zero time to recover,and crashed. Very very sad.
terry shutt
What you Posted makes sense. I saw videos of just how thick that fog was, it was Marine Fog, the Pacific Ocean was on the other side of those ridges. Why he decided to fly into the mess is beyond me. As you said he flew into the fog, became lost, lost his orientation, and crashed. Apparently he "thought" he was over the 101 freeway, but he was not. A bad decision on his part got everyone killed.
@@ThePriceisRight4094D Sometimes The ridges were fogged in. Marine Fog is thick and doesn't dissipate like radiation fog.
@@johnadams5489 yep, like San Diego, pea soup!
@George Martin
He was with the charter company he worked for 10 years. A Representative of that company said he was the "Head" Pilot. Charter work is spotty. Flying any aircraft has a degree of risk. Anyone that routinely risks the lives of their clientele is not worthy of having a pilot's license. The Press interviewed the Pilot that flew Kobe for years before this last guy and he said that Kobe NEVER Pressured him to fly. The pilot is the one that made the decision to fly or not. That said, after reviewing as many videos I could find in order to get a handle on the conditions at the time, the Clouds along the Coast were as thick as cement. Marine Fog. He didn't leave himself an out. If he had "Get-there-idous", he got everyone killed.
@@johnadams5489 th-cam.com/video/T6Tiq-y8ZmU/w-d-xo.html&feature=share
I wish they would of just made a different decision that day.
Raquel Li I so very very much agree with you. For example, like drive to the game instead. This shit still hurt 😢
@@jafree33 it will hurt for a long time
Raquel Li I know. Our deepest sympathies to the families of all of those people who loss their lives that on that awful day.
@Lynn Ann i call it Gods Timing
Me too
so the tower at socal got the last conversation that was not recorded, so maybe journalists should interview those people at the tower or least the man on the other end.
The recordings you have heard are recordings captured by aviation enthusiasts who record air traffic control frequencies 24/7. Due to this, they miss some transmissions due to the location of their receiver. However, ATC has their own recordings which are much higher fidelity and will pick up the missing parts we haven’t heard yet. And “SoCal” isn’t a control tower, it’s a TRACON. Different role.
U killed kobe...suckers
It was recored somewhere; all communications are.
Your so right....ivestagate the other end
No Doubt great thinking because that conversation never happened.
But they will find some schill to say it happened
I live in the Hollywood area and this was one of the foggiest days we have ever had, this is so sad and tragic.
Do you think climate change has anything to do with this unusual weather?
Ok But Pilot didnt know what to do ?
Fly Safe on The gruond or fly right in The Mountain?!..
Lol, not according to Umar Johnson. SMH
Agreed! I live in Orange County and on the night before Sunday morning (sat 25)fog was extremely heavy around 10pm which seemed very unusual to me given the fact that we don’t get fog that heavy especially at night. I couldn’t even see my neighbors homes. I could only imagine how much heavier it was in the hills of Calabasas
@Umbuko DaJuko he flew into the fog it did NOT appear out of nowhere.
It’s called “controlled flight into terrain”. It unfortunately happens all the time when pilots make poor decisions and fly in weather they should not have been flying in. This was pilot error.
Yes I agree with you on this
The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed into a rugged hillside outside Los Angeles was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers. They should have never been in the air period... If emergency helicopters were grounded due to conditions so should have been Kobe’s... No exceptions. His pilot should have never agreed to take them up.
Isn’t it also possible this was not CFIT and the pilot had lost control of the chopper due to spatial disorientation due to suddenly finding himself in the middle of a cloud. The NTSB has said he ascended and turned in an attempt to get out of the cloud cover. Shortly after there was a very rapid descent which could also be consistent with him having lost control. That’s not hard to do in a helicopter when pilot doesn’t have adequate visual feedback and is essentially flying without instruments in IFR conditions. Of course we’re all speculating, but if I’m understanding this correctly there’s no clear evidence he just flew it into the side of a mountain or something.
@@embeth446 The copter still has an altimeter. If he is disoriented, why make a sudden left bank decent at 2000ft per minute and at 185mph?
Yes, even without a ground warning system, an altimeter should have given him at least a sense of how close he was to the ground. Also, from the tone of the ATC’s voice, it doesn’t sound like he’s getting any responses from the helicopter during the last seconds.
The pilot is and should always make wise choices.. Period
Exactly, that pilot didn't make an executive aka final decision. Ppl's lives didn't become his #1 priority. I wonder was he trying 2 impress KB bc that's his rich clientele. I wonder did any of those grown adults with kids speak up.
It's difficult for all of us and tragic and hard we r all entitled to ur opinions however what if how about its very horrible n teagic im devastated myself #Giannamambalive4everkobe#
many pilots get fired when they dont do what theyre told and you're presuming the pilot was in error, which is pretty stupid. most likely is there was a mechanical issue. Period
@@JP-in4zq God knows best the damage is sadly already done whatever the cause is now we all have to keep the remaining families in our prayers and hope to God social media post don't wreck them.God keep them all safe..sigh.
Expert is speaking and people on here still giving their non expert opinions. Smh
Well an expert was flying the helicopter too...
Pilot was an expert 👀
I hate to say it, but pilot was an expert, too.
Nobody knows what the deal is until we know if the chopper had any issues
@Umbuko DaJuko and so how many helicopters have you flown?
This guy is great!!! They need to give him some more air time. Great analyzation skills with great details. Very well spoken and explained.
Uhmmm...he didn't want to admit that the plane dropped...hence, the lost signal from the pilot to the tower. Yesterday, the last one way contact clearly stated the helicopter was too low. It's clear that they dropped right after the pass to the last tower....why the sudden drop?
@Woo Choi He still gets paid way more than you loser
I agree!
I concur, i get it. I like the way he's explaining it to us I understand it better I think. But I'm still heartbroken for all thee passengers on board the Helicopter, especially the three babies (young girls 😥😥😥)
Absolutely.
Not trying to embellish or add unnecessary commentary.
He should be the go-to for this kind of interpretation.
When the pilot knew he was too low for help he had no choice but to go even lower to get out of that fog so he could rely on his own sight to continue. He couldn’t use the instruments so he had to get a visual to continue on safely. Obviously, the fog was so extremely dense he simply couldn’t know the mountains were right there. The thing that has me confused is that he didn’t appear to hit the top or even the middle of the mountain head on. It looks like they hit the very bottom of that hill, almost suggesting it nose dived straight down to the ground. I can’t figure out why he seems to have just gone straight down to the ground. It would be easier to understand had he just been flying and inadvertently struck the middle or top of the mountain. What is so striking is how composed he seems. I know these professionals are well trained not to panic but as bad as the visibility was, he gave no indication that he was starting to get extremely worried or feel panicked or disoriented in any way.
When it’s all said and done and all the investigating is completed, we just want it all to be undone. We want to go back and correct what happened. It’s as though taking a journey through their flight path will somehow miraculously allow us to change course or make different decisions that will bring us the outcome we want so desperately.....we just want to redo all of it and for them to arrive at their destination safely. This is just so awful. All I can do is think about Vanessa, the three girls and his parents.
I have been wondering why the helicopter suddenly descended too. Maybe the pilot lost consciousness or had a heart attack or panic attack?
Your assessment is EXACTLY correct. He became spatially disoriented in the Layer, turned it upside down, and drove it into the ground...
He likely didn’t sound panicked because he couldn’t see the danger they were in, which is exactly the point. He didn’t know, hence wasn’t concerned. Plus, they nearly cleared hitting that mountain by 20/30ft which suggests they likely hit nearer the top and rolled down, as opposed to hitting the bottom as you suggest. Have a nice day :)
Pilot maybe had a medical condition?
@@sgtkiko ....what is this, a JOKE? ...
Why when events like this happen you never get to hear or see the most Important parts
I'm gonna say out of respect for family maybe
Or they could be hiding something. Smh
Right all of the most important conversation is not recorded 🤔 ....really
@@deebopheng8424 No black box on the heli. Nothing to hide here. Not everything is a conspiracy.
rail33 Taterman07 that’s bc it’s bullshit
Flying in fog without the proper instruments is like flying blind.
Ok so go on The gruond Safe but not fly in The Mountain
That’s what IFR is. Your relying solely on instruments and not your vision.
Hmmmm, Also I'm guessing this PILOT, was not aware of the EQUIPMENT that was in this AIR CRAFT, and maybe just not having any experience flying in the fog, I mean how often does it get that foggy in LA, especially that DENSE!!!
How do you know he wasn’t using the force?
Jeff Baker
Like I said he turned off the instruments and used the force.
I'm sorry it was just unwise to fly in such foggy weather
.....VFR, anyway...
@@johfertitta5233 what does that mean?
@@treniesablunt IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) prevailed. He should have been full IFR (Instrument Flight Rules).
My guess is he didn't have an Instrument Rating...
The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed into a rugged hillside outside Los Angeles was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers. They should have never been in the air period... If emergency helicopters were grounded due to conditions so should have been Kobe’s... No exceptions. His pilot should have never agreed to take them up.
@@dantheavionicsman6433 I agree with unfortunately it sound like the old cliche money talks everything else get thrown out the window
The biggest aviation crash in history had fog involved. 583 dead. Pilot error
And the crash occurred on the ground. No flying involved.
Tenerife 😠
Once again pressure to go.Crew was running out of hrs.
2 747’s. Almost happened in Providence way back
Was that the KLM flight in which the pilot was in a rush to take off, which clipped the top of a plane in the ground?
Such a tragic event that so many had to suffer the loss of family members. It is just so sad to comprehend. God Bless them all.
@Robyn Mancell, have you flown a helicopter before?
Very good. Best analysis that I've seen.
Its all ripped off another you tube channel. NBC10 has infringed copyrights of a You Tuber but thats to be expected of them.
He was scud running and flew VFR into IMC conditions. My guess is spatial disorientation because of the fog and he stalled the helicopter on his 180 degree turn.
Watch mine. I'm the owner of that video they used
@@VASAviation I watched your breakdown when it came about and they really didn't add anything to it.
@@VASAviation Okay, I will. Thanks for letting me know!!
I couldn't imagine how the victims felt moments before it happened, I wish they all would have survived this, it's just so sad, the pilot should of just did an emergency landing...
Really? You don't think a highly experienced licenced pilot would have done that in a situation that warranted such a response? There were clearly other things going on here.
Just drive two hours to the game on a quiet Sunday morning drive. On a day like that, I can't believe not one person said, "the weather is bad today, and too dangerous to fly". Either we drive or just miss the game altogether. Easy. And this whole tragedy would've been avoided.
I would have said let’s drive instead. I’m freaked out by small planes and helicopters. They flew to Thousand Oaks almost every weekend and it sounds like they had flown there the day before on Saturday for a tournament. The pilot thought he could handle it. Kobe had flown by helicopter hundreds of times. They didn’t stop and think about it. It’s like they forgot they were taking a risk in that weather.
Kobe frequently used a helicopter for short distances like to the staples center while he was a laker. I cant help but think what a huge risk he was taking every time he did that but he was a known risk taker
That weather looked like hell coming down for real. But maybe from where they started it didn’t look like this.
@@LysetteOne Like it was their habit to fly like this. That's what I'm thinking - they didn't check weather conditions.
Robin Krop Yes, I agree. The pilot probably flew in foggy conditions many times. These clouds were lower to the ground and they were at the most terrain filled area of the trip. Dangerous combination.
RIP to all on helicopter.I hope none of them felt any pain.
They didn’t. The real question is whether or not they knew it was coming
I think it happened too quickly for them to have registered pain but I also think they knew there was something wrong.
True..maybe an instant of that somethings wrong feeling..but it was probably to quick..pilot couldnt see and flying through clouds..and WAM! hit the side of the mountain.
Can somebody pls interview this last air controller to find out if he heard him screaming for help, what was the pilot saying, etc. interview this man at once and provide that report
foreal! so many unanswered questions
holio if I would like to hear from the last air controller it is my business because I wanna know but what’s not your business is worrying about my request. The air controller can hopefully ease the unknown for his family friends and fans and that’s on that!
flying my drone that day and i couldn't see down the street. No way anyone had 3 miles visual that morning
I was coming from santa Clarita and around the intersection of the 14 and the 5 freeway it was extremely foggie I couldn't see nothing you become desoriented in a car driving at 7O MPH imagine in a helicopter flying at 180 MPH ,I totally think it was human error ,that model of helicopter has 2 engines and had an amazing relaibility and low accidents.
Van Nuys said it was 2 and a half mile visibility
Exactly... Flyings Was A Bad Decision...Point, Blank.... PERIOD!
This was the part I couldn’t understand. If there was that much fog, why did the pilot never mention it?? The controllers asked about visibility twice if I remember correctly and both times nothing about fog.
He was Special VFR which requires only 1 mile visibility. Still not a good idea to fly that morning with limited visibility into terrain.
In very risky weather conditions they chose to "beat the LA traffic" on Sunday AM, where practically there wasn't any traffic especially in carpool lane. They needed to cover about 80 miles by road. Collective poor judgement. May they rest in peace.
An accident waiting to happen. I live near JW, Airport. up early going to church, the fog was very heavy. Should have never been in a copter. The pilot made the mistake to fly and killed these people. Traveling in unknown territory, following the freeways to stay away from the surrounding mountains...like flying blindfolded, He got disoriented and slammed into the mountain. Didn't know what hit em. 150 miles per hr impact. He had the money for all the bells and whistles for warning to put on this copter. Traffic was slow on Sun morning... take a limo...
SVFR traffic is not authorized to use the HOV Lane...
@@johfertitta5233 you are trying to be funny, my comment assumed that all mine people could have traveled by passenger motor vehicle in HOV lane, I didn't imply the impossible that helicopters can travel in HOV lane, this brilliance is all your own
@Wire haired Dachshund you fail to notice that this flight originated from John Wayne airport, which is 47 seconds drive from 405 freeway. Save your banter until you get some clue. People do what they want and chose including killing themselves.
@@jeanjones1846 not the pilots fault
He ran into heavy heavy fog, when asking for flight following. He could not see anything, needed to go full instrument flying. Trying to see in the unexpected fog got him in trouble. Then lost all bearings.
He didn't know how to go instrument flying. Obviously. The pilot was a moron
I doubt if he had an IFR ticket....
This is exactly why we have TWO pilots: one to glue his eyes to the instrument panel and aviate -- the other to admire the scenery and navigate...
Even if the fog became thick and he lost all bearings, he still has an altimeter. If you suddenly can't see because of thick fog, your reaction is to perform a left bank decent at 2000ft per minute and at 185mph?
Yes you hit it right on i believe he had to drop low to see but the fog was to much
DAMN GOOD JOB TO HAVE THIS UP SO FAST! AMAZING STUFF GREAT ANALYSIS
They used vasaviation TH-cam's channel video. He had that video up b4 anyone. Go to his channel.
I was
@@VASAviation I got you my brother. Gotta tell em the truth. Gotta give you the thanks for putting that up.
I go to Vasa whenever there is a crash anywhere, he;s so good and fast!
Good cover up huh. Smdh
Sounds like the pilot had numerous warnings and didn’t come up with an alternate plan for the flight. When he hovered for 15 minutes waiting for the airspace to clear should have been enough indications that other plans should be considered.
You are exactly right because pausing for 15 minutes going in a figure 8 & many many circles created the circumstances that made him sick with spatial disorientation
th-cam.com/video/T6Tiq-y8ZmU/w-d-xo.html&feature=share
He should've went back and made everybody wait til later. He circled LA Zoo six times. Like the other commenter said that could've made him disoriented. That along with the foggy conditions. But he kept on going anyway. Then he kept flying at the same speed instead of flying much much slower. His decision making was not wise across the board. Not wise at all.
J. Queen seems to me this was all preplanned and a setup. Just how they did aaliyah.
1ChocletDrop seems to me this was all preplanned and a setup. Just how they did aaliyah.
I live in Fontana, 60 to 70 miles East of where all this happened.... on this Southern California day it was one of the foggiest days we had EVER EVER EVER seen. You did not see the sun until maybe 2pm.. and that fog is worse in that area being closer to the coast. So while you are listening to this video, keep in mind how unusually foggy it was... like... the fog was low... like shit you see in the movies.
Oh I was in Whittier Friday night and we noticed some wicked fog around 7:30 pm. So this fog floated through for a few days.
Yikes. Thanks for the input.
Life is fleeting folks, tell someone you love them today.
This was probably the work of Qasem Soleimani's ghost. He was a military genius after all. Didn't Iran mourned and promised America that they will suffer the same fate? Just 24 days after Qasem's death this happened
uniaguilar I’m a pilot who flies in SoCal all the time. It was much worse in the early morning (as it usually is with the marine layer), but at the time Kobe was flying (9-10am-ish) it was actually quite descent and do-able. The decision to depart John Wayne under VFR was completely reasonable given the reported weather and forecast data. It got worse in the last couple of miles of the flight, and the visibility likely didn’t drop, but the clouds got lower while the terrain got higher.
The pilot may have decided to turn around while still visual, but accidentally entered a cloud while turning. The pilot can keep the aircraft under stable control in the clouds, but he can’t see where he’s going and where the obstacles are.
Andrew Grey Their part 135 operation may not have had the authority to conduct IFR flights under their approved rules of operation. Even though the pilot & aircraft were IFR certified, their operating rules would have mandated additional regular IFR training to be able to do that type of flying, and that costs a lot of money for a company based in SoCal where the weather is usually pretty clear. The pilot certainly could enter the clouds as an emergency maneuver, but he would be over an area where he’s not above the minimum IFR altitude for that area, so he has no great idea of where to navigate to. Happened fast, probably. The helicopter may have also not been kept IFR certified (for example, broken attitude indicator). It’s perfectly legal to fly with certain avionics or equipment inoperative as long as you address the inoperative equipment in compliance with regulations.
Not sure if everyone understood this but in the end we could only hear half of the conversation, but the controller was definitely talking to the pilot.
Right... this seems fishy like they cut out his audio
So let me get this straight, We could only hear half of the conversation..
Why dont they ask who is the incharge on ATC at that time,cuz he might know whats going on before the crash happen?
deew ekoms What?
KeRon Tucker KeRon, some people are mentally handicapped! More likely this incident is way above their mental capabilities
So if the controller was talking to him why haven’t we interviewed the last controller who got to talk to him before they went down and let us know what was said since the recording couldn’t pick it up?
Knightchild 2k17 I’m 99.9999% sure they have
Maybe someone can explain this as I am confused. If the pilot was following the the 5 north, then the 118 west, the 101 is on the other side of the valley. He would have had to deviate from the 118 and fly across the valley, and it seems to me it would have taken more time. And why didn't he just continue on the 118 and go through camarillo via the 23?
Mr.Inferno especially if he had really had vfr conditions. When he was circling the zoo before that one airport looked to be shitty conditions for vfr rules. Obviously he could not use IFR flight with this flight path or did he not have ifr ratings or did this helicopter just did not have the lad test and greasiest equipment to use autopilot. But why did he bank 180 so hard and not keep heading straight forward on same heading ? A lot of different scenarios. He could of headed into the milk fog started climbing freaked out and was like I got to turn around ?
I asked the same question I read somewhere that the 101 is a more direct route or simplier route to follow, and the 118 is more windy road or curvy, just what I read.
You can actually take the 118 all the away to Camarillo, it turns to a road at the 23 but who cares. This was the big MISTAKE.
@@aeyjay9550 they are in a helicopter...windy, curvy means nothing. And the 118 would have been better.
@J G agreed. Definitely the main route out to Ventura county. It appears to me like the sense fog his the aircraft suddenly which had the pilot turn west...he became disoriented very quickly.
This expert explaining to us is a FIVE-STAR ***** Thanks for explaining the silence - 1-way conversation. Helped a lot.
Janet Stone his analogy and explanation is in correct. He has it wrong. The pilot broke out of the fog to realized he was too close to terrain. The helicopter was traveling too slow for the aggressive left bank he made. Remember a helicopter relay on vertical lift and forward motion. When he banked left under low speed he slipped out and fell to the ground.
Actually the 1-way description is full of assumptions, and possibly 100% wrong. Based on this audio, there's NO indication the pilot ever checked in with SoCal (you would hear SoCal acknowledge that, and we hear ALL of SoCals transmissions). His reasoning of why we dont hear the helicopter could be true, but it's a leap. The fact the pilot changed his transponder code to VFR (1200) indicates he thought he was done receiving ATC services, even though VNY just asked him if he wanted services from SoCal and he said yes. Sorry friends and family of the pilot, but he did poorly here.
Kevin Cady low speed he was going around 150 mph or faster it was reported what are u talking about
Stogie Palace finally someone addresses this, the guy giving the explanation in this video has absolutely no clue what happened
There are "microphones" in the surrounding area? That would record nothing else but birds chirping and the sound of the rotors. That's an "expert" mistake.
Did he mean radio receivers? If so, then are there radio transmitters too? Without that ATC might hear what we didn't hear - as this "expert" speculates - but the pilot would have heard ATC, so still no two-way communication. Anyway, it's an interesting theory.
He also made the mistake to say the previous ATC was the last one the pilot talked to, then told us the next ATC is talking with the pilot, but we don't hear it... this does not add up. Might be true, but this guy is definitely contradicting himself and using the wrong terms. Maybe he dressed up in that awkward suit to give the impression of being an expert...
Some reports say he was climbing in altitude to avoid a cloud layer right before the crash. Maybe the angle of attack was too much which caused a retreating blade stall, and the stall caused the pilot to lose control and dive down and to the left?
I think your right.
That's what it looks like
But the high speed of the crash, 170 miles an hour, probably means it was a controlled crash into terrain...not a stall?
@@jjgreek1 Valid point.
Either way Pilots error most likely due to disorientation. At the rate of speed it was going down I doubt the passengers had anytime to react or knew what was happening and were dead upon impact.
Yea, they need to talk to the controller from SoCal. The guys doesn’t know if he actually made contact. This seem like he was trying to get information and the pilot wasn’t responding
This
An obvious disconnect between the aviation expert and the reporter about “too low for flight following”. The reporter is trying to read way too much into that statement from the controller. Flight following is a traffic information service requested by the pilot while operating the aircraft under visual flight rules, but the controllers do not have to accept the request and often deny based on workload and where the aircraft is located. If the aircraft is in an area with sketchy radar coverage, it is better for the controller to refuse the request than everyone (including the pilot) deal with the annoyance of dropping off radar then picking up, then dropping, etc. where I fly there are many areas where air traffic controllers will deny flight following if I am below 8,000 or 10,000 feet altitude because they know radar coverage is just too spotty in that area. This was not a terrain alert, just a controller explaining why he was denying flight following and that is *all* the controller was saying when he told the helicopter it was “too low for flight following”.
Yes, the expert had already explained the 'two low' thing, then he had to do it again.
@e james the marine layer is a thick layer of fog that comes from the ocean. I think you misused the word. The marine layer/fog is what caused the crash
@e james My speculation (I'm just a regular person with no special aviation education ) from what the analyst said and the recording, was that the SoCal controller told the pilot that he was too low for flight follow from that specific controller. Not in general.
@e james get cute with it? Relax you're assuming. It was a mistake. The best pilots make mistakes. It's clear, he was going too fast and the fog disoriented him. Fog does that on ground, can only imagine 1400ft above the ground. From open canoga park to the area he died in the santa Monica mountains is about 10 miles so he probably approached too quickly if he was going 180 mph. The way he came into Calabasas/SM mountains was from the north east, so the mountains were on the right and he had city on his left. He made a sharp left about a mile into the santa monica mountains. Shit happens
@@59kobain this seems right.. So Sorry for them, even if the pilot made a mistake, i mean, he just wanted to do his Job and I am sure he did not want these kids to get killed.. People are commenting bad about him in other Videos, but its not like the pilot survived, he is DEAD too.. tragic
“too low for Flight Following” could mean ‘too low for radar contact’
Bill Ruttan yea it does mean that 👍
Not 'could mean'. It means exactly that, and nothing more.
There's going to be more to come out, but this is helpful. Pilot needed help but was too low to receive help that might have saved them.
Too low to receive help? What help may this have been?
Flight following wouldn't have saved them
What the pilot needed to 2 do really was turn around and go back. Go sit down somewhere until that fog cleared. He needed to tell them b4 they got on helicopter NO we're not going nowhere until that fog clears 1st. When he circled around LA Zoo six times that was his wake up call. No but he decided to continue on going. Then he kept flying at the same speed instead of slowing the hell down. He didn't make an executive decision. He might've been trying to impress KB, his rich clientele. He didn't put ppls lives 1st. Come 2 find out the sun came up and the fog cleared 1 hour after the accident. That says he definitely could've made everybody wait Period. Fog always clear sooner or later.
If anything he shouldn't have asked for flight following, that made him go into the clouds to get radar contact, he should have just stayed where he could see the ground.
pilot was acting like idiot, shoulda known to turn back , there was no visual at interstate highway, so his stupid self banked left and then lost orientation
zobayan supposed to follow the interstate road route, it had no obstructions or hills, instead he decided to underestimate the elements instead of turining back, out of a silly stupid reason probably to impress the people
From what I saw the pilot was flying fine then encountered some heavy fog then tried to make 180 because its too foggy then the pilot didn’t realize there was a tall mountain he was running to because of the fog.
Zeon Razer just my thought but I’ve flown in the area many years. I believe what happened is that the pilot experienced fog and could not descent any more so he decided to climb. When he did and entered the fog, he did not appropriately transition to his flight instruments. Radar shows a climb and decrease in airspeed. He likely experienced spatial disorientation (which can occur quickly). As a result, the pilot caused the helicopter to enter a descending left turn. The aircraft then entered a 5000 foot per minute descent and increased its airspeed to 175 knots (a dive per the NTSB). The aircraft collided with the terrain at the base of the cloud layer (per the witness wearing the TWA hat).
Yeah but why were they diving while turning?
joshlawill it was likely not intentional. When a pilot experiences a loss of spatial orientation due to clouds or fog, he can see nothing outside of the aircraft. When that happens, if a pilot does not quickly and effectively reference his flight instruments, he will not realize the attitude of the aircraft. So, even though he thinks the aircraft is straight and level, for instance, he may initiate a turn, descent or climb and not even know it.
@@jamesweigh3178 Basically this pilot was and IDIOT, you can sense in his voice that he was unsure of himself and sweating having to fly in the fog for these clients. Maybe he realized he was not up to snuff to fly on instruments only if the had to.
“Too low for flight following” is commonly heard for a low-flying helicopter that can’t be seen on radar. Nothing unusual about that. It’s perfectly fine for a helicopter to be flying at 500ft AGL.
When you can't see, which he definitely could not,all the ways you look at this pilot error on his judgement,lead to this disaster.
JOHN BOYAJY he asked for flight following while he was still visual. He entered a cloud accidentally in only the last 30 or so seconds of the flight. Being too low for flight following simply means radar can’t find you. This isn’t abnormal. If there was any poor judgement, it was in the last 2-3 minutes of the flight, because whether at Van Nuys was adequate for what he was doing. There was no reason to scrub the flight due to the weather forecast data I found from the morning of the flight. The pilots eyes would have told him the cloud deck was getting lower than forecasted in that small microclimate area.
@@aviatortrevor you are clueless do you want to be in that helicopter, who are you defending,he couldn't see,VFR is Base on seeing, please the fog was evident he was reckless. period.
@@TheBatmanjb I agree with aviator,,,,,,,, I doubt he was in trouble still the last 30 seconds then he tried climbing. simple!
@@TheBatmanjb We don't know the level of visibility. The pilot flew most of the flight under Special VFW. Last we get to hear, he switched from Special VFR, to VFR conditions. Meaning, the visibility improved.
It may have suddenly got worst again. But that communication is unfortunately not available for us. But what we do know is for some reason, the copter descended at 2000ft per minute and at 185mph. If he suddenly lost visibility, I'm not understanding why his reaction would be to descend quickly. And even without visibility, the copter still has an altimeter. You will know the difference from ascending and descending.
At 1:03 you can hear the exhaustion in the pilots voice, then at 5:06 you can hear a slight hesitation & nervousness in his voice, he was probably getting disoriented from the extended holding/circling in flight
You could, he sounded scared 😢
I can only imagine what the pilot’s family is going through. They must be getting a lot of kobe fans blaming him. They shouldnt have released his name.
From the first time I heard this tape I always thought he sounded nervous and not comfortable at all.
I agree circling for 15 minutes and got confused as to which way to turn... should’ve landed in Glendale called a driver and kept it moving....Airplanes don’t circle they hover. Don’t think he knew where he was at that point.
@@urnkimshouse he was disoriented from the fog.
A tragedy purely preventable. Kobe could have moved his Mamba Sports Academy to beautiful Orange County and sounds like Pilots error due to disorientation or that ridiculous rapid ascend caused the engine to stall. I hate this loss because it didn't have to happen. Do not take chances; a 2 hour drive wouldn't have killed them but ironically the flight did. A tragic loss of beautiful life.
Yep Morons fo sure
You can have all the experience in the world and have an accident. Weather conditions are different each day and some days fog is heavier some days than others. No doubt in my mind the pilot has flew in fog but Sunday morning fog was probably a lot heavier. He figured he could get Kobe and the crew to the game so he stuck with it and ran into a slight situation that he just couldn’t get out of. Unfortunately it cost the lives of 9 people. Things happen in life and it’s tragic that this had to happen to these people and to a person like KOBE BRYANT. But this was simply HUMAN ERROR. RIP TO ALL WHO WERE ON BOARD AND THE FAMILIES WHO ARE GRIEVING DURING THIS TRAGEDY 🙏🏽😢
J B True. You can never anticipate sudden tragedies like this.
Remind someone you love them today.
An accident waiting to happen. I live near JW, Airport. up early going to church, the fog was very heavy. Should have never been in a copter. The pilot made the mistake to fly and killed these people. Traveling in unknown territory, following the freeways to stay away from the mountains... He got disoriented and slammed into the mountain. Didn't know what hit em. 150 miles per hr impact. He had the money for all the bells and whistles for warning to put on this copter. Traffic was slow on Sun morning... take a limo...
I read that this particular helicopter was leased by Kobe, but owned by Island Express; and it was not equipped with a moutain terrain warning system.
I also read that Sikorsky has developed retro-fit auto-pilot systems for its vehicles. See, Island Express was too cheap to update their fleet. If Kobe owned the vehicle, you know he would have paid for state of the art safety equipment. Profit motives....
Yep. One bad situation with little outs and seconds to make the decision, and hope it's the right one. Anyone can fuck that up. Ina. Tight space, with that big heli, with that altitude and probably 0 Visuals. Man
He was too low the terrain can be as high as the ceiling he instead of going str8 turned a sharp left ran right into the side of the mountain he was clearly disoriented due to fog he was really way too low to be flying over there in that particular area it was a recipe for imminent danger to begin with
So basically the pilot got disoriented and slammed into the side of a mountain that was not visible because of fog. Sad and totally preventable.
Totally! Whey didn't he just tell them he couldn't see?!
Lisa Rose hahah what was telling them he couldn’t see gonna do? He’s the pilot.
@@lisamarie5918 The pilot asked for flight support exactly because he couldn't see well...
@Lynn Ann, That's true, but he could have waited for the fog to clear before endangering other lives
Pilot error is my uneducated guess. What would I know.
They keep talking about how low was the helicopter for following, but do not discuss why he was not able to communicate his visibility, it is obvious that the pilot did not have visibility all along, he took chance after chance and ran out of chances
I wish he would have told the tower that he had no visibility? Why didn't he tell them?! This story could have ended differently!
He was begging supposed to stay in visual meteorological conditions.
He was not allowed to enter clouds. He even told her that he was in VMC.
@@lisamarie5918 Because he *did* have visibility? Up until he accidentally entered the cloud in the last minute. Visibility passing Van Nuys was 2.5 miles. That's plenty. Clouds were at 1200ft AGL and he was at 500ft AGL. Plenty of cloud separation.
when you say "obviously the pilot didn't have visibility all along", you are an ignorant twat. We know for a fucking fact what the weather was at Van Nuys, which is only like 2 minutes from Calabasas. Van Nuys reported 2.5 miles visibility and 1200ft ceilings. That is more than enough visibility. That's seeing an entire minute ahead of your path at this helicopter's top speed of 150 knots. The helicopter could even slow down to like 60 knots and then have 2.5 minutes of forward visibility. You can drive your car on the freeway with only 15 seconds of forward visibility - enough to be traveling at 70mph and see a car at a complete stop, engage your breaks and use ~13 seconds to slow down at a pretty mild rate, not even jamming on your brakes.
This things happen when a pilot can not say no to his boss and either do not start the helicopter at all or turn back when you see that it’s too risky to continue the flight. Or maybe he said it but was said to fly anyways.
Excellent video!!! The best one on TH-cam so far. He explains it remarkably. I get it now.
Your "expert" doesn't seem to know what SVFR is. At 3:15 he says the helicopter has to maintain certain distances from clouds. That's wrong if issued a SVFR clearance. That's the whole point of SVFR is that now the VFR aircraft simply can remain "clear of clouds" and no longer has to be 500' below them or 2000' horizontally from clouds, nor does he need 3 SM visibility. Hence the "special" in SVFR. At 8:00 he starts in about microphones all over the place. They are repeaters that allow communications to be relayed from aircraft to SOCAL Approach (ATC) and back, not microphones. Radio repeaters. At 9:40, your expert is totally wrong. The SOCAL controller is questioning the helicopter because the pilot is transmitting 1200 as their transponder code. To flight follow with ATC, you will be assigned a discreet code that shows them your location on radar and you will not use a 1200 code. Don't know what your "expert" is droning on about. Good grief! At 11:00, the communication from ATC was simply letting the pilot know that he could not see him on radar well enough to provide flight following. This is completely normal in hilly and mountainous terrain. Radar is not magic and needs line of sight to get a good return from your aircraft. If ATC can't maintain radar contact with you, they cannot provide flight following. It's not possible to deconflict traffic with an aircraft that you can't see on radar. Your dummy seems clueless here! At 12:50 the guy is babbling about NTSB investigating what is too low for flight following. NO NO NO! The NTSB knows like every other helicopter pilot that in mountainous terrain at any height lower than the surrounding hills and mountains that you likely won't have radar contact, therefore flight following is not possible. They are investigating the cause of the crash, not flight following. Flight following from ATC in uncontrolled airspace is not required. It's a good practice and ATC can help let you know when other traffic they see on radar is near you, issue some advisories regarding hazardous weather information, and help with any emergency communications should they be needed.
Exactly! I know nothing about aviation, but I am a jury consultant who is an expert on communications and I could see from a mile away that the expert did not know what "flight following" really is and he started making stuff up about rules the NTSB needed to investigate. You are correct that flight following cannot be done because the radar cannot follow the aircraft well enough at that height with surrounding hills. Expert here should be terribly embarrassed by people seeing him bluff about his knowledge here.
You tell them Savage!
Give credit to VASAviation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom Sawyer VAS Aviation is the Best! Watch their detailed video on this tragedy too!
@@RaoulThomas007 where can I watch this?
Escapologist Magical Just search VasAviation on TH-cam and you’ll be there!
@@RaoulThomas007 thanks
The helicopter pilot was better off continuing on without stopping.
You can hear it in the Pilot's voice that he was a bit annoyed
@M J FACTS
Probably better off listening to aircraft control. Had he kept going and been "better off" he would possibly wreck the planes. He's frustrated that he has to wait... Yes. But he wouldn't be better off ignoring his only lifeline to what is going on in the air and what else is flying that could hit him. Besides a mountain.
Hmmmm, yes you could tell he was annoyed a bit, but now he's going to jeopardize SAFETY , why didn't he just stopped and WAITED and if HE got to his destination later, oh well....
I definitely think he was being, PRESSURED by his passengers....
Daniel C. Based on what? That’s completely unfounded.
I was in California that weekend in SanFrancisco and Oakland. On Friday when we came across the Bay Bridge you couldn’t see the Golden Gate at all. When we finally drove across the Golden gate a while later you could barely see the bridge driving across it and you couldn’t see any water or anything else. The fog was so thick that weekend throughout Cali that it had to be dangerous everywhere. Why was he even flying at all. It just seems so senseless. My prayers go out to Vanessa and her kids and all the others on the copter. Someone should have grounded that chopper.
I'm blaming all this on the pilot. At some point it had to kick in that he can't see through the fog. He should have just landed the helicopter. Did he even think about the passengers on board.
100% agree!
Easy to say now. In a crisis situation u panick and do shit.
That's the same thing I keep saying, he made the ultimate decision to continue on in cloudy/foggy weather that he should of turned that chopper around or landed it period! Bad decision making has changed alot of lives forever.
@@TheBooty28 Yes you do panic in a crisis situation, but why put yourself in a crisis situation in the first place when no other helicopters are allowed to fly.
To those saying he shouldn't have flown in the fog, please understand that thick fog can roll in from the canyons that is like a milky cloud. It is often clear as day in the valley where he was coming from. The fog cloud could have come out of nowhere and once he flew into it he tried everything but maybe got disoriented and it was too late.
I was in Thousand Oaks (Kobe's destination area), around 10:30a and had driven past Calabasas (Kobe's crash site) a little bit after 10a that Sunday morning, and fog was very thick/day was gloomy/sky was grey. I actually was able to partially see the rescue chopper off near the mountains as I drove by on the 101N. I had no idea then the terrible news that awaited all of us as I took my daughter to a snowday event at a local school in Thousand Oaks.
What I cannot fathom is why the pilot would've insisted to fly under special VFR in such conditions when he could've taken the alternate route the ATC had given him..?? Why didn't he follow the 118W?? As much as it's tough to blame the pilot because he perished too, it just keeps becoming clearer and clearer that his overconfidence is what inevitably cost them all their lives. ..may their souls rest in iternal peace.. 😢😭💔
Yup very true. Would have encountered only about 2 mountain ranges. Simi Valley then the T.O. down to Camarillo if i can rember right.
@KeRon Tucker just like EVERYONE else including EXPERTS, I am speculating based on details as they've been released. Where often times pilot error can immediately be dismissed, in this case, it is an actual REAL POSSIBILITY. A prominent Aviation Attorney drew the same conclusion given preliminary information released including ATC audio between the pilot.
@KeRon Tucker the NTSB is NOT speculating because it's their job to fully investigate. I am referring to other experts in the field of aviation. But whatever floats your boat...
They were only 17 miles away from their destination so that's minutes away he was trying to fly through those range of hills/mountains following the 101 and got caught in the fog so he tried climbing out of it.
@KeRon Tucker - clearly #Kobe Bryant's wife #vanessabryant has come to the same conclusion that you seem to want to deny - the accident was PREVENTABLE and is the direct result of pilot error/negligence
www.tmz.com/2020/02/24/kobe-bryant-wrongful-death-lawsuit-island-express-helicopters-vanessa-gigi/
This is fishy as hell. The most crucial last minute words of the pilot could all of a sudden NOT be heard. What DID the controller say he said then, since he could hear him but the recording supposedly did not catch?
Completely agree! Very weird
They used VASAviations TH-cam video. He had that video up hours after it happened. Go to his channel & thank him.
no
@@thescribbler495 Yea, he was. He put out the first video of Kobe's Helicopter flight path & crash. That's why everyone news channel & newspaper used his video. His name is on the video.
@Lloyd Bonafide yea he kinda does. He's the one who edited out all the other aircrafts in the area & the other audio just to show Kobe's helicopter path. It's his video, look at the top right of the computer screen, his TH-cam name is on the video. So, he does own the video. Look down at the comments, he even commented saying "I guess I'll call it Fair Use".
Besides that, All I meant was He Made that Video & to just thank him. Every other news station & paper used HIS VIDEO. That's all.
john doe 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@Facebook-StevenSchmidlap who the fuck r u? No one is talking to you.
Let me save everyone some time. The cause is pilot error. He either got disoriented and flew right into the mountain side, or his turn had a high bank and the helicopter lost lift. Plain and simple, that helicopter should not have been in the air in those conditions.
"his turn had a high bank and the helicopter lost lift" is the only answer that explains the extreme and sudden rate of decent. Pilot suddenly found himself enveloped in fog, tried to turn around rapidly to escape it and the rest is history....
Very sad.
He flew over the mountain then crashed missed it by 30ft
This is nothing more than yet another example of a man being murdered by his money (and, of course, when that happens he ordinarily takes a handful of innocents along with him.) This Toby Bryan apparently had lots of specious wealth, but apparently not enough to hire a COPILOT, not enough to hire a pilot with an IFR ticket, not enough to purchase a full IFR panel (which you need if you're going to fly around the Marine Layer all the time.)...
@@johfertitta5233 You have no idea what your talking about. Kobe's helicopter was a "daily" rental from a helicopter company. They provide all the pilots and details on the helicopter. Kobe didnt own the helicopter and could not order changes to the helicopter, that is for the owner of the rental company to make. The only thing they allowed him to change was the wrap and colors on the outside of the copter. Kobe was a passenger just like all the other passengers. Their lives were in the hands of the pilots, just like passengers on a plane flown by Delta airlines.
@@williamhealy2473 No it isn't.
Perhaps the passengers were texting loved ones on their cell phones - maybe investigators can get more clues on what happened by looking into their mobile phone text conversations.
Basically, the pilot got lost in the FOG and drove full speed into the side of the mountain.
That’s not what happened at all
Wondering why was he going so fast?
omensoffate yes it is.
Charlie B tea bitch
Ellie5621 Ok I hear you but if LA had all all copters grounded because of the weather why was Kobe’s still in the air? And if it was that bad how come they never told him to try and land?
How could be a lot of air traffic in the area they said weather was not good enough to fly pilot asked for special permision. so is that mean all the planes and hellicopters asked for a special permission that day. And traffic controller says hold other traffic has to be passed what traffic people saw only 1 hellicopter on that time .
With the technology these days the answers need to be quicker then a year..🤔
Spatial disorientation is defined as the inability of a pilot to correctly interpret aircraft attitude, altitude or airspeed in relation to the Earth or other points of reference. ( flying VFR to IFR ).
Only on the internet can complex crash investigations be completed in a few minutes.
@@skyboy1956 not in a few minutes.. But a month or two.. Besides this DON'T happen everyday... That a helicopter goes DOWN...😶
@@trufacts8934 investigate for 2 months and can't find any conclusive evidence as to what happened. Now what?
@@skyboy1956 I DON'T know mannn!!, it just hurt to see something like this happen... No need to debate.. We all want answers that can't be answered...🤷
It seems like his visibility changed really quick like he flew into dense fog and he got nervous because he couldn't see, tried to go back the other way and lost control 😢
Flying is almost like a truck driver driving on those mnts up and down in the fog and clouds there are rules you must follow what's in place if you don't this is what will happen. The pliot knew way before time he was in trouble he had enough experience to know put the bird down or just don't do the flight before he took off from the airport. I've been on the 118 and the 5 and getting up and down those mnts in high altitudes will make you disoriented because your high in the clouds. And to suddenly speed up to 150 something miles then try to pull up hard was a big mistake. Poor judgment. I know it differs from a truck driver but still when it comes to them clouds and very dense fog it's no joke. All the lives on board could have been saved this didn't have to happen. RIP to all the families that are left to mourn this tragedy.
I think this whole blame game and “this didn’t have to happen” talk needs to stop. Everybody has a time and date they will exit this world. That Sunday morning was just Kobe’s day. It was his time. And its extremely difficult but people will have to accept it.
ye23 it's an accident it has nothing to do with time of exit.. I'm guessing most islanders that live to 100and above don't have this time measures???
love prevails everybody will die eventually. everybody has a date. Some live till 100 some live until 13 or 41. Thats life! You cant escape death. No matter what excuse you make. The way you die doesnt change the fact that you will in fact, die! You can live the healthiest life and die in a car accident. When its your time to go, its time. Its God’s will and you cant change that
Yeah fog on highway is no joke like thick fog u can't see infront or behind
@@ye23.
Death that is due to human error is avoidable... Thats it That's all!!! Period
If there isn't a point of reference, you can literally forget which way is up. Unable to tell if you're banking left or right, up or down. Very scary especially VFR in low visibility
Based on his analysis and based on the weather conditions, this all seems like a setup.
I'm an IT guy who's learned a few facts about flying planes and choppers. This pilot was using an iPad when he was in thick cloud cover, which if he lost track of his instrumentation for looking down or sideways, it's a sure way to crash. Also, there are two golf courses in Malibu. If you're flying somewhere and conditions turn adverse, then you need to have emergency out. Even Harrison Ford has had to land on a golf course, so backing out is the responsible thing to do when eight lives depend on you. Pilot mindset is everything: th-cam.com/video/W0lWsqAwYwY/w-d-xo.html
Looks like they were trying to stay under the fog and couldn't avoid the fog when they got to the mountains.
He got lost and veered into the foothills, totally losing awareness of the rising terrain below.
Wes Porter the way in which the communication system is designed, it’s common not to hear the other side of a conversation. The controller was likely heading the pilot, based on what he was saying. The NTSB will be able to retrieve the entire conversation.
Wes Porter he did inform the controller he was climbing due to clouds (he was probably already in the clouds). This is not heard but the NTSB reported that. It’s unfortunately not odd. Based on everything I’ve read and heard, the pilot should not have departed John Wayne (could have landed at Burbank or Van Nuys) and secured ground transportation. E unfortunately entered the clouds (based on witness statements, likely lost control and crashed.
I know the company wasn't licensed to fly IFR, but if the helicopter was capable, and the pilot had IFR training, why didn't he declare an emergency and switch to IFR controls?
Seems fishy. Right at the transfer to new tower this happens? And we heard the back and forth conversation every other time except right at the end and then the helicopter crashes....come on.
I could do without the background drone music.
It's called a music bed. And yes, they're everywhere and largely horrible.
@@NxDoyle No....it's called background music.
@@NxDoyle very important what's it's called...
Not having the other side of the conversation is awfully suspicious
Exactly wtf I'm over here thinking... suspect af
@@XoXo-gl9hg This recording is from aviation enthusiasts . The actual recording is still available for investigation.
He probably had a panic attack or was disoriented enough to where he couldn’t respond back
This is my take on running into zero visibility. Highest priority would be safety. Rise up (pop up) and announce you are turning tail or you want permission to fly in restricted space, with instruments. Or you become disoriented and fly askew, straight for the ground.
@@ES1Baller That conclusion calls for speculation. We need the facts.
My guess is this pilot flew into a cloud or heavy fog which caused 0 visibility and instead of switching to IFR (Instrument flight rules) he tried to fly out of the fog without visual references. He banked hard to the left without knowing his position relative to the ground which caused the helicopter to pick up speed. When he finally excited the fog he was to low and going to fast and was unable to avoid crashing into the ground.
Makes sense. Forgot that a hard left bank would increase speed. I was wondering also why he never switched to IFR now we know he was certified to fly IFR but the helicopter's company had not received IFR rating. Pilot reminded tower (in another audio) that Burbank and Van Nuys were IFR so he had to avoid IFR airspace which is exactly what he needed at the time, Which is why he kept requesting flight following because he needed assistance to maneuver the craft safely.
Knowing the Kobe mentality.
The dialogue between Kobe and the pilot before taking off went like this...
Pilot: pulls Kobe aside* listen Kobe visibility is pretty low, I think we should give it some time before taking off.
Kobe: You sure?
Pilot: yes, spoke to air control, is a little tough up there.
Kobe: call them back see if there anything that can be done.
Pilot: well they said, they don’t recommend it but if we have to take off, we would have to do it under special visualization flying guidelines.
Kobe: Perfect, have you flown under these conditions before?
Pilot: Yes I have but....
Kobe: Done, lets do it. You got it ... you the best at this. Let’s go we running late.
Pilot: in a low voice* ok let’s do it.
Disclaimer: With all due respect I wrote this. Kobe was my basketball hero growing up. I live, laughed and loved thru his success. I just have a weird gut feeling it went down like this.
It’s a sickening feeling I have too! And he has flown on a helicopter private plane commercials constantly for decades so it was prob just like hopping in the car to him. You just don’t think twice about it
in the beginning it said flight following VFR at or below 2500 feet. but then he is "too low" for SoCal air traffic control? That seems odd
I read somewhere that the chopper lacked TAWS, Terrain Avoidance Warning System, which is optional for passenger helicopters. Is there any truth to that?
28andee yes correct. Ugh, just so damn sad. 💔
Why do I have to hear sound effects ?
Because you clicked on it.
I'd like to watch but they have to add production .
The mournful noise is not on the ATC radio.It was added by an ass wipe to add drama.
@@TONIOFSFV Can you tell everyone how much you paid to watch this content? Zero investment on your part to produce it but full of criticism. Thanks for your 'valuable' contribution.
I helped pay to identify the deceased .I don't know how much Kobe's frivolous flying cost the taxpayers of Los Angeles County yet.
The people who are at fault for this crash 100% are those that cleared Kobe’s pilot to fly in the first place. Period, Changes need to be made about clearing pilots to fly to avoid disasters like this. No different then when JFK was cleared to fly.
The pilot is certainly at fault. The aircraft operator is most definitely culpable. The controllers are NOT responsible.
So the people who asked the moron that was flying the helicopter if he could see and he said yes is responsible for the accident? You must really dumb or lack basic intelligence. Which moron speed in an area where there is little to no visibility? I hope you dont have a drivers license because with that brain of yours, you are a danger to other drivers and yourself!
You do not understand the rules.
The ultimate responsibility belongs to the pilot in command. The pilot requested and was granted permission to fly under special vfr, which means he must remain clear on the clouds. The pilot should have landed on the freeway if that is what it took to stay out of the clouds.
Kennedys never followed the rules, which is why some have driven off a bridge or skied into a tree. Jfk jr was responsible for checking the weather to confirm it would remain within his abilities. Nobody is up there to confirm that he had the proper rating and there are no "road blocks" to have kept him from entering the clouds.
Mark Daniel those are the rules that need to be changed so pilots never ever get in this situation again. The FAA needs to be accountable for every airline and helicopter in the air that pilots are following the rules. Hire more people if it will save a tragedy from this happening ever again.
Sue Russell can you up imagine if, every time you wanted to get in your car, you’d have to present your license to an official?
The pilot doesn’t seem nervous or concerned at all he’s calm
He was not thrilled when he responded, "Okay, we'll continue holding. 2EX". The pilot knew the weather was bad. Burbank told him the surface area was IFR. Google the transcript of conversation. See below.
Burbank airport tower: "Helicopter 2EX, Burbank tower. Burbank altimeter: 30.19. Burbank Class Charlie Surface area is IFR; say intentions."
Pitts S2C there is something fishy about this whole thing period
Pitts S2C Well then the pilot knew before their chance of survival was around 14% when he decided to approach the clouds and fog in VFR. The tower is also trained, why did they not tell him he cannot go there with VFR/SVFR?!
@@katana5562 A pilot only needs special VFR in order to fly through controlled airspace in bad weather which he received approval to do. After that, when he's outside of controlled airspace he goes back to VFR. Then he's completely on his own and it's his choice whether or not to proceed. I think he got caught in the soup, got nervous, dropped the cyclic control to quickly decend and get out of the clouds and ran into the hill. Unfortunately, I think it was that simple. An unfortunate accident that was avoidable. A very bad choice by the pilot to proceed. It's like driving in your car into super foggy weather and not pulling over or turning around.
@@pittss2c601 my take on the way the pilot said okay we'll continue holding was that he seemed a bit annoying by having to wait/continue holding so long not that he seemed nervous.
How was there a lot of other aircraft out there if it was foggy?
Exactly my thought, the controllers planned everything to disorient the pilot and lead them into an alternate route into the fog mountains to force a crash
andrew Marcus YES they definitely lead them to crash, which is probably why they only gave us half the recording to listen to. They probably cut out that part.
The big question is why did the pilot leave the 101? And if you look closer at the last few radar positions he was rapidly ascending (not descending) and losing speed .
I haven't stopped thinking about this since Sunday just sad 😔
Do you play basketball? Just curious. What's the saddest part to you? RIP Kobe and Gianna
@@thsu8 no I don't. The saddest part to me is the way he died. The fact that he nearly made it to his destination, was so close that his death could of been avoided if they hadn't gone on the helicopter when they did. And the most saddest thing his wife and 3 kids that are never gonna see there father again. He was supwr young and such a lovinf dad that loved his family. RIP Kobe and gianna
Lindsey Martin well said. I agree, so sudden and tragic to die that way. Why was the helicopter going so fast if the pilot couldn’t see??? I don’t even know how Vanessa keeps living. Saddest part for me is that Kobe was still teaching so many people, his girl’s team of course but countless other players. He was actually DOING things and helping people, not like 99% of retired athletes.
@@thsu8 I have a 3 year old born 12 days after kobes daughter bianka and a 9 month old 2 months older then there daughter Capri and my daughter says every day "mummy I want daddy" where's daddy? it's so heartbraking I can't imagine what she's going threw. Loosing her soul mate and daughter all in 1 day in such a tragic way that could of been avoided and how close they were to there destination thats the thing that hits deep the most. I dont personally know her but i do think of her everyday and just pray for her family. Another thing that hits deep too is how dope gianna was at playing basket ball she definatly would of been a little star like her daddy and now the world is never going to see that happen. Her life was taken way too soon and everyone else that was on board, RIP to them all. Can't stop thinking what it must of been like on the helicopter? How scary it must of been for the pilot knowing your in control of everyones lifes they said it was like trying to open your eyes in a bowl of milk thats how thick the fog was! I wonder why he was going so fast too? Do you think he panicked? Must of been so scary. Just wish it never happened. Your right kobe was doing such good things he seemed like such a lovely person and such a role model as a father. Heart braking
Makes you wonder..@ any time did the passengers know how serious of trouble they were in, Or was they ear phoned up and napping etc being it was a early morning ride....I wonder did they have time to hug each other and say goodbye....I wonder what are final moments like...Truly devasting tragedy!!
No sadly it all happened within a matter of seconds. So tragic
@@ye23. I guess if I had to choose☹️I would want it fastly and over
@Mr. Husky I was told it took a full minute
I don't think they knew, they probably couldn't feel how fast they were going or see where they were going because the fog and white out came up all of a sudden. I dont think the pilot said anything to make them panick and they didn't see the mountain coming up that they crashed into. Looks like he lost control within seconds and crashed.
@@goddesst After seeing that video of what may have happened..I agree, Hopefuuly he didnt say anything and it.....UUGHHHH so sadddddd
So sad. This was an emergency landing situation. No need to continue the trip, wish they called 911 to land the aircraft. My heart goes out to all the passengers and their families.
why wasn't the microphone able to record the full conversation?
He explained it
At 6:39 the pilot is advised to contact SoCal at 134.2, and the pilot responds 34.2? Is he off by 100? Hence no further communication from the pilot with the SoCal tower?
Many are asking "why didn't ATC tell him to...".
He was told to remain clear of the clouds and he said that he would and could.
At any time, the pilot could have stated that he was unable to remain clear and requested vectors to an airport. The fact that he was not supposed to be in clouds may have warranted penalties, but the penalty would not have been a death sentence for all.
Sounds Like 9/11
He went to a canyon where no radar beam could bounce off and track. He tried to find a hole instead of making a 180 back to VFR. He probably lied about going in and out of clouds looking for VFR. Special VFR should be used in IFR when you know when you will come out of IFR. For example remain in VFR until your transition. If you enter the soup you had better be in the system, that is IFR.
He would have cleared all obstacles and all a/c and been safer. You can get away with this a lot in urban settings, much more light and much more landmarks with higher temperatures keeping fog from getting real dense. Out in the woods, cooler weather.
He might have done similar flights in the past and sighed relief when out of the soup. But pilots don't go to the craps table.
@kilahchris Apparently they were not allowed to fly IFR as a Part 135 charter, he entered the clouds illegally, with this model Sikorsky this was the first with fatalities. Pilot was negligent entering in clouds without an IFR clearance....he should have declared an emergency to get the IFR clearance, arrived safely and dealt with the FAA later
Great video ,
But what i didn't get is weather or not he fell out of the sky " OR" did he crash into the hillside .........
He crashed into the hillside.
They don't talk about how old that plane was that was a very old helicopter Kobe have been using that 20 years all those precious life is this gone so sad and so painful
Why are we only getting half of the conversation?
i imagine they are gonna recreate this exact scenario with another helicopter to see exactly what could of happened and how high and low he could of been for transmissions and the such
Karl Kindle it’s *could’ve*--- NOT “could of”
@@dianagarcia938 'prolly' is the one that gets me the most
That's not going to happen.
who gives a fuck
WE GET IT DUDE!!! We’re only hearing half the transmission!!! My God man we GOT it!!!!
Not according to the conspiracy theorist above you
Definitely a conspiracy
Wow, no respect for the man educating us. Where can I find you on the net so I can judge you?
Sadly, there are idiots commenting on here that apparently do not get it 🙄
I almost turned the video off during that part because it was so infuriating to listen to!!! He kept going in circles!!
There was supposed to be a final transmission from the pilot saying he was going up to 2300 to try and go above the cloud. Wonder how that was known and who heard it.
That was information disclosed by the NTSB in their press conference (the lady from NTSB said that the pilot was trying to clear the clouds by climbing and reached 2300 feet above sea level before descending). The pilot's transmissions were recorded by SoCal which provides the flight following service, and the NTSB would obviously have access to that.
Why was the recording not working from the pilot's end?
My cousin lives in Las Angelas, CA and she said that fog ain't no joke. She said that when it gets foggy in L.A., you can't see NOTHING. So I can't understand why the pilot got clearance to fly as foggy as it was.
Still didn't answer anything that we haven't already heard.
What are your questions? unfortunately what happened is the helicopter unexpectedly malfunctioned and crashed rapidly. There is not much that can be said for this misfortunate day. Rest in peace to every individual in that helicopter.
Gigi Smith helicopter did not malfunctioned. They could not see in the fog. Terrible decisions caused the accident.
@@eazy-333 we don't know that! People have said that it was sputtering before it crashed.and the ring door camera audio seems to support that.
Either way the company that owned the heli better have the lawyers getting prepared for some massive law suits,as pilot error or mechanical failure will both result in them haven enormous suits coming their way.
1 mistake
Take 8 Lives..
@@tomasjankauskas4761 I don't believe it's a mistake.he took that last turn for some reason!! It could have been because the motors were going and he was trying to get to somewhere to land.
I'm sure the ntsb will figure it out.
Didn't know that about the microphone, thanks for clarifying that because I'm hearing reports that the pilot told ATC he was climbing up, but we had no audio of that.
The guy is no expert. Wherever the radio was hooked to a computer tlo record the frequency was out of range of the transmitting radio. Ground radios usually have far more power to transmit than aircraft do and antennas can be far larger to get the singal out better. An aircraft being aloft above the terrain only helps to a certain extent.
KeRon Tucker yes, Jeffrey is correct. There’s no “microphone” it’s just radio receivers with lots of power that decode voice for ATC
KeRon Tucker so you’re attacking someone who knows what they’re talking about just because they may or may not be an expert? That’s smart as hell.
KeRon Tucker attacking has a variety of meanings, severity levels and implications. Maybe you’ll realize this as you interact with more people who speak the language.
Didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to speak because I wasn’t addressed. I wanted to make sure an actual expert wasn’t “debunked” because they didn’t state their experience.
Andrew Grey +1
What I want to know is, do the occupants of the helicopter realize something is wrong at this point when he's circling the airport and flying low etc...? When does Kobe and the other's realize there is a problem? No one is saying anything about that .
Frances that’s what I’ve been wondering. Was they aware of the danger they were in, or did the pilot keep it to himself thinking he would figure a way out? I feel as if they knew it was a dangerous situation, but felt confident in the pilot. I wonder if they even knew that they crashed or if it was just an instant boom.
I wandered the same. But I think they didn’t realize until it was too late. It’s like 3 sec. 😢
He was circling because he was told to hold his position. When atc tells you to “hold your position” they’re telling you to fly in circles until they tell you you can proceed.
@@salibahhijazin8521 I hope you're right :(
Why on the last controller conversation we can't hear the pilot conversation.... But we can hear the other two controller conversations very well.
Extremely clear and concise explanation from Mr. Gagliano about what can , and just as importantly cannot, be deduced from the dialogue between ATC and 2EX. Well done!