RIP: Kobe Bryant
 

TMZ reporting Kobe died in a helicopter crash this morning.

Kobe Bryant Dead, Dies in Helicopter Crash

Crazy. That’s horrible.

wow if this is true. Not seeing this reported on ESPN or elsewhere besides TMZ

I’ve seen it in several spots.

Holy shit

It's so hard to believe I went looking for someone else to confirm it and now it's starting to break.

I wasn't much of a fan of him as a player, but he had taken the NBA Ambassador role since his retirement and was doing a lot of good things for the game and to help younger players.

This is a "where were you when" moment.

WTF

Well Twitter is broken now, so it must be true

My host at the restaurant just told me, and I basically told her she was full of crap.

Holy cow.

The most famous athlete of our generation.

Well this sucks!

Right there with MJ as two players that seemed to thrive above any other when the game was in the balance.

RIP Kobe.

His second oldest daughter was confirmed dead in the crash.

Sad. So many rumors was hoping this wasnt true.

Woj tweeting that the others on board were another youth player and parent. (and presumably the pilot accounts for the fifth victim being reported)

Damn :(

Can't think of a bigger athlete death like this off the top of my head. Earnhardt was big but not like this.

Very sad.

Now I know how my parents felt when Munson died.

That being said I'm not sure we have ever had one like this.

Wow. Not a basketball fan but remember him and Shaq. What a loss.

Tragic. R.I.P., Kobe.

Huge loss to both men’s and women’s basketball

Roberto Clemente is one that came to my mind.

I think it depends on your background and corner of the world. I'm pretty sure I still see 3/Intimidator tributes on cars.

edit: I suppose on a global scale, perhaps not. But everything now seems bigger than it was 20 years ago.

From the audio and flight maps, and weather and terrain, the pilots in /r/flying say it looks like a controlled flight into terrain based on low clouds. (Meaning accidentally crashing into a hillside they didn't see in time).

TMZ and ABC are both reporting Kobe Bryant died this morning in a California Helicopter Crash. : flying

(Obviously Pilotman would know more and would understand the lingo there, I'm just relying on what they're saying).

They were also looking at the recorded history of this helicopter and how often it went this low in this spot, etc. He really did fly a lot. Multiple trips around Southern California per day. 3 flights yesterday. This was very routine. It's just crazy for something to go so horribly wrong this time.

The last couple of lines of the pilot weren't recorded, or were too quiet, but it doesn't seem like any particular distress before impact, it just went silent. They might not have seen it coming, or, didn't have long to react.

One of the big concerns in aviation is complacency (and deviation from norms). It's one thing that professionals and companies everywhere are trying to beat back. You do something a million times and you take things for granted. Steps get skipped, corners get cut, little by little. One day it's something small, and each day it's eroded a little bit more. So if you're getting into the clouds and you think you know where you are, you're gambling. Maybe he's done it a hundred times before and it's been alright, but that one time, is the only time anyone is going to remember. CFIT is the #1 biggest cause of loss of life in aviation. It's almost always, completely avoidable. That's why it's been a huge focus in the profession for the last decade or more.


taken from one of the posts in the link above:



Another says heavy cloud cover in the area, while flying under visual flight rules (see and avoid).

:(

I've only ever been a fan, but I guess this is how it feels. :(

I live pretty close by and even though I was in SD this morning, there was unusual fog across most of Southern California this weekend. It’s definitely a very hilly area, but one it sounds like the pilot knew like the back of his hand. Very tragic all around.

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Very sad news to all those involved. :(

I was in SE Asia and met a father who introduced me to his 10-12 year old son. The kid's name was Kobe.

I said "Kobe?".

The father said "Yes, like Kobe Bryant".

Pretty sure it wasn't the kid's given name but a nickname he chose for himself. He was a big fan, hope he is doing okay.

I am out of town for a family funeral, one of my cousins is more broken up by this than his grandfather’s death (in fairness, he has had dementia over the last few years).

This still feels so surreal. :(

I’ve been surprised by the depth of people’s reaction to his death. Is there another celebrity whose death would have the same impact?

I was in the middle of a long overseas holidays when Michael Jackson died so I probably didn't appreciate the impact of that at the time, but this one feels greatly amplified to me.

Kind of eerie sidebar to this story in my social media tonight.

A family friend just posted a picture from last year, from a work/pleasure trip. Same 'copter, same pilot. (verified by the tail number, which hasn't been reassigned since the charter company bought it in 2015)

The Mamba paint scheme was apparently a "wrap", like is used on buses and such for advertising purposes, as the picture shows the same white with blue accent that is visible in the photos of the crash site.

Im thinking probably not. LA market. World brand. 41 years old. I mean he is just 4-5 years from being "invincible" in a lot of people eyes.

Also, I think people think if it can happen to a person like Kobe it can happen to anyone. It just gives people an insecure feeling IMO.

I would throw out comparisons but it just feels wrong.

Small crazy world....

I don't remember Michael Jackson being like this. I think the difference is we have celebrities dying more frequently from drug overdoses than we do helicopter crashes.

Kobe's daughter being with him, who she was, their relationship, amplifies it times 100, too.

In my lifetime maybe the closest thing John Lennon? And yet he was far enough removed from the Beatles that, I would think, many weren't as impacted as they would have been if it had come in the early 70's, IE 2- 3 yrs post Beatles?

It is so sad, unbelievable for all of the families. Laker fan and loved Kobe's game. Had a friend call me, he was golfing and it came up on somebodies phone, and asked if I'd heard. I thought it had to be a bad internet rumor/story, changed to CNN as they were just announcing it. One of those things that, even after a couple of days and so much tv, it still doesn't seem real.

Was talking about this on Sunday with a friend of mine. We couldn't name anyone in our lifetime that matches a combination of the level of celebrity and the out of nowhere nature of this. Lennon is the closest thing we could come up with and that was outside both of our lifetimes.

When you look at the level of celebrity, how he was idolized by multiple generations of players and fans, the way it happened, the fact that he had been all over the news cycle the night before, and his daughter was with him it's something that is so tragic and stunning that it's difficult to find a comparison.

It's only been 23 years (give or take) since Diana. That was by far the most obvious comparison to me.

With that time in mind, I called this the most significant celebrity death in the lifetime of the under-21 audience though. Arguably the biggest in the social media era too.

You'd be surprised how many Kobe's there are in the world now.

He is absolutely huge here.

Filipinos pay tribute to Kobe Bryant in several PH cities

So, just curious, addressing the elephant in the room, is this like Jackson, where after death, the allegations and details of transgressions go away? Or is it where the measure of the person's accomplishments and the good that they put into the world are able to overcome it?

I really have no feelings either way. I was never a big Kobe fan, but I could certainly appreciate his accomplishments on the court and the skill that he possessed as a generational player.

I think it will be seen different because he never was convicted of anything. Easy to push away any allegations because of that.

Maybe Kurt Cobain. Sure, not surprising that it happened but still a bit shocking and he was still in his prime (27 if I recall correctly).

Personally, I barely think about it. I think he overcame it by becoming a better Kobe Bryant. Also, a true verdict was never reached as it was settled out of court so.....

Completely different but I look at Randy Moss in a similar way. He has improved his character so much as he has gotten older. They eventually learned they could be important role models instead of immature spoiled athletes.

Even so, I have a hard time reconciling after rereading the victim's statements and the lies that he was caught in, that basically corroborated her story. I can understand your points though. People should get the chance to overcome their pasts.

I don't really have an opinion on it, but I hate that people get all butthurt when it gets brought up. It is part of his story and shouldn't be brushed away just because he died a tragic death.

This hasnt hit me very hard to be honest. I was never a big fan and didnt follow the NBA much during his time.

As for comparisons, I have one that is more local. Look up Chris Streets death. He was leaving a team dinner in Iowa City during a snow. He pulled out of the hotel where the dinner was and was hit and killed by a snow plow. He was an Iowa native and a star on the Iowa basketball team. 20 years later theU had a night memorializing him. And a current player recently missed a FT on purpose because he was about to break Streets consecutive made FT record.
He was an Iowa legend.

Again, that was on a local level.