Kobe Bryant Killed in Helicopter Crash??

[revo]

Holy shit

[DMT]

Crazy

[heyelander]

Daughters were apparently with him on the copter...

Tragic

[revo]

Daughters were apparently with him on the copter...

Tragic

OMG no, that's terrible.

[DMT]

Daughters were apparently with him on the copter...

Tragic

TMZ has only confirmed his 13-year-old, still tragic obviously.

[madducks]

Aw man, that's terrible.

[heyelander]

Yeah, Kobe, his daughter, anther girl and her father plus the pilot going to a bball game the girls were playing in

[Judge Jude]

to get it back to baseball, the other father was a mentor to the Mets' Jeff McNeil:

ESPN's Jeff Passan spoke to Mets star Jeff McNeil, who played for [John] Altobelli in 2012, when Altobelli managed the Brewster Whitecaps -- a collegiate, summer baseball team in the Cape Cod League.

"He's one of the main reasons I'm still playing professional baseball," McNeil told ESPN of Altobelli.

McNeil said he had a poor first two years at Long Beach State. His coaches there asked Altobelli to bring McNeil to Brewster anyway.

"He took a chance on me, kept me the whole summer. Him taking that chance on me, having me on his team, got me drafted," McNeil said.

"He made you believe in your ability. I remember when we first got to the Cape, he said, 'You're here for a reason. You've just got to believe you can do it. If you want to steal, steal. Play your game. Do what you guys want to do. Enjoy it. Have fun with it. This is gonna be one of the best summers of your life.'"

[Sour Masher]

Really sad to see so many young people go when they had so much life left in front of them. I wonder what went wrong. I don't know anything about how safe or dangerous helicopters are, but I imagine they are more dangerous than planes. Still, you don't hear about this happening often. Really sad.

[madducks]

Weather being blamed for the helicopter crash:

The crash occurred under foggy and cloudy conditions with extremely low visibility, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
Weather conditions on Sunday morning didn't meet the minimum standards for flying and the Los Angeles Police department grounded its helicopters, spokesman Josh Rubenstein told CNN.
Pictures taken shortly after the crash showed fog in the area.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Tony Imbrenda said he didn't immediately have information about whether the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter radioed a distress signal.
"Individuals that saw the aircraft said it was coming down at a fairly significant rate of speed and impacted the ground on the hillside," he told reporters.

[madducks]

The LA Sheriff's Department is not happy with TMZ's quick reporting:

It also upset police who suggested the speed in which TMZ had reported the news -- a little more than an hour after police said they received reports of a downed aircraft -- outpaced that of officers who were seeking to notify the family members of victims.

During a press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva took a swipe at the website when explaining to reporters why he would not yet confirm the identities of those who were aboard the helicopter when it crashed. "It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one ... perished and you learn about it from TMZ," Villanueva said. "That is just wholly inappropriate."

Los Angeles County Undersheriff Tim Murakami also jabbed TMZ in a tweet.
"I am saddened that I was gathering facts as a media outlet reported ... Kobe had passed," Murakami wrote. "I understand getting the scoop but please allow us time to make personal notifications to their loved ones. It's very cold to hear of the loss via media. Breaks my heart."

[revo]

"Aviation sources said the LA weather was extremely foggy on Sunday morning and most helicopter traffic was grounded. The pilot of Kobe’s chopper planned to land at Burbank Airport but had been circling the area for around 15 minutes waiting for clearance to land because of the bad weather conditions and other aircraft on flight plans landing at the airport.

Shortly before the crash, the pilot climbed the helicopter to 2000 feet then flew into a mountain at 1700 feet. Flight data showed they were traveling at 161 knots (185mph).

A second aviation source said Bryant’s chopper had twin engines, so they would not have crashed if they had lost one engine. The source said, “All the signs point to a CFIT [controlled flight into terrain] which is when an aircraft under the complete control of a pilot is inadvertently flown into the land, sea, or a building. These accidents happen when the pilot loses situational awareness. The crash site also points to this, given how the debris is scattered, it looks like they went nose-first into the mountain.”

https://pagesix.com/2020/01/27/kobe-bryants-helicopter-was-flying-dangerously-low-before-fatal-crash/?_ga=2.52057066.255731312.1580070121-1445554417.1578594803

[Judge Jude]

the start of the final round of the PGA Tour event in La Jolla was delayed for more than two hours Sunday morning. it was too foggy to see where a 300-yard drive wound up.

I wonder how many of these celebrity helicopter deaths wind up with weather in the equation.

[madducks]

John Altobelli also coached Aaron Judge in the Cape Cod League.

[madducks]

The helicopter and the crash site: