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Originally Posted by molson
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.
TMZ and ABC are both reporting Kobe Bryant died this morning in a California Helicopter Crash. : flying
(Obviously Pilotman would know more, 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. A lot of 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:
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Yeah, another post showed the airspeed/altitude profiles for the flight, it indicated the last 5-10 seconds of the flight showing the airspeed plummeting and altitude increasing quickly like the pilot saw the approaching terrain and tried to clear it or the GPWS started screaming and he did all he could to gain altitude.
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Another says heavy cloud cover in the area, while flying under visual flight rules (see and avoid).