.... yadi yadi yada ... this says it all ....

All the Sheriffs choppers were grounded at the time of this tragedy

That doesn't mean what you think it does. In LA the weather is almost always nice so the Sheriff department doesn't spend the extra money to get their pilots certified for instrument flying. So they have to stay grounded when the weather is bad. The pilot who was flying this commercial helicopter was instrument rated. And the helicopter he was flying was instrument rated. So in theory he could've navigated his way thru the fog. But there is a twist, the company that owned the helicopter didn't have a license to operate it while instrument flying so technically the pilot wasn't able to switch to instrument.

I have no idea if any of that mattered. It wouldn't matter to me if my life depended on it but I'm sure the pilot didn't want to lose his license by switching to instruments mid flight. Best guess is that the pilot hit the fog bank at full speed and got confused and when he tried to hang a 180 to get out of the fog he hit the hill. Had he turned in the other direction everyone would still be alive since it was just valley to that side. He would've known that since he had flown in that area for years but for some reason he went the wrong way.

Spatial disorientation, loss of awareness which way is up, down and left and right, occurs very quickly when you loose visual refences to the horizon. As soon as that happens you need to be using the flight instruments for flying, transition immediately to them, and know where your at, what altitude and direction in degrees on the compass you need to continue flying safely.
It doesn't take but a tic toc to get honk up bad in fog or clouds, I've seen the same thing happen at night when flying away from a well lit urban area into a dark undeveloped area in SO CA and AZ.
Flying is not for everyone and it is not easy to do well under bad conditions

Pilot Error.

He could have landed at Burbank but declined.

Descended slowly in final moments - then went forward at 150 mph.

The pilot is ultimately responsible for the safety of the aircraft and his passengers.

Barring mechanical failure - he f€cked up and killed eight other people.

No one seems to be talking about the 2500 ft. ceiling he seemed to be restricted to.

Probably to prevent a mid air collision with fixed wing aircraft.

Whoever was allowing helicopter flights in dense fog with a low ceiling should be held accountable.

That - should have never happened.



Jim

I just read an article on the crash that said the limo driver showed up at the crash shortly after it happened. This is the limo driver who was waiting for them at the airport to take them to the game. So someone called the limo driver and told him to come to the crash site. I wonder if perhaps the pilot was trying to set the copter down in a parking lot and just got confused in the fog? Probably one of those things we'll find out once all the interviews are done.

I saw an article that said the flight they were on cost $10,000 round trip. Evidently Kobe was spending about $50K per week on helicopter flights. He was flying every day as a way to commute around LA.

10k for a RT ? Of how many miles ?

This was on Facebook shortly after the mishap. Problem with this vid is it is missing the first part where the helo was flying straight and level. There was one point in the vid where it appeared something fell off. The way the aircraft is coming down sure looks like he lost a tail rotor blade.

There was another vid show the help passing over some mountain bikers shortly before it went down.

Hopefully the NTSB can find the cause.

That video isn't related to the thread. That is a video of a crash in the mideast. UAE I think.

the helicopter, Sikorsky S-76B with tail number N76EX
formerly owned by the state of Illinois
was used by Kobe as his flying limousine "black Mamba" during his playing days
Island Express Helicopters re-painted it and was using it for charters mainly to Catalina Island

it was nothing new to him for travel, he spent many hours in this very helicopter

Not the same crash.