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R.I.P. Kobe Bryant, Daughter Gianna and 7 Others

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sun Jan 26, 2020 at 06:26:29 PM EST
Tags: Kobe Bryant (all tags)
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Really shocking and sad news today that basketball legend Kobe Bryant, age 41, and his 13 year old daughter Gianna, as well as a teammate of Gianna's and her parent, a pilot, a baseball coach for a community college and others were killed in a helicopter crash today in Los Angeles. The New York Times has updates here.

You don't have to be a basketball fan to be stunned and saddened by this news. Heartfelt condolences to his wife Vanessa and their other children, Kobe's parents, former teammates, Gianna's friends and teammates and everyone who felt a special connection to them. As well as to the families of the pilot and other passengers on the plane.

May they all Rest in Peace. [More...]

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    R.I.P. Kobe Bryant, Daughter Gianna and 7 Others | 6 comments (6 topical)

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    Kobe grew up in our town, and graduated (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Peter G on Sun Jan 26, 2020 at 07:49:41 PM EST
    from the same high school as our girls, about three or four years before our oldest. Only saw him once play in high school; unbelievable. He often returned to visit with his high school coach when the Lakers came to play in Philadelphia. The high school gym in named in his honor, with a big display of memorabilia. So very tragic.

    I know very little about pro basketball (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 27, 2020 at 06:38:10 AM EST
    But I know about the good work he did.  Loss of life especially young life is always tragic but the things left unfinished are tragic too.

    He is an institution here. (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Jan 27, 2020 at 10:49:57 AM EST
    He crashed very close to my house in one of the thickest fogs I can remember.

    My neighbor was outside exercising and saw a helicopter very low near the hills. He thought it was probably a sheriff because he would need instruments to fly through fog that thick.

    Later he and the others he was with smelled smoke from rubber and plastic burning, and he thought someone was burning trash or something. No one put the two together.

    It was so foggy that you could not see the smoke from the fire from the crash so it took quite a while for anyone to find the site, although the site is in the hills maybe only 1/2 mile off a major road behind our water company.

    We could hear the news helicopters from inside our house well into the night.

    RIP Champ.

    The terrain in your vicinity is very rugged. (none / 0) (#4)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jan 27, 2020 at 01:16:35 PM EST
    Given the thick fog in the area around the Thousand Oaks / Agoura Hills area and the general low ceiling of visibility (1,000-1,200 ft.) throughout the L.A. region yesterday morning, I really don't understand why air traffic control at Van Nuys Airport didn't direct the pilot to land at VNY until the cloud cover lifted above 2,500 ft., which it later did a couple of hours later.

    Instead, Burbank Airport tower directed him to fly north following I-5 until he hit Hwy. 118 before turning his aircraft over to VNY. Then, having flown due south toward Hwy. 134, VNY allowed him to fly along the Ventura Fwy. into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, where reasonable speculation would suggest that he quickly found himself enveloped in the fog, became disoriented, flew up a gully and into the side of a 2,400 ft. mountain.

    For those of you who've never lived in Southern California, SoCal fogbanks along its coastal areas (of which the Santa Monica Mountains are a part) have long been notorious for their occasional visual impenetrability. On several occasions, flying as an arriving passenger to LAX on an airliner, I've had to endure hours-long diversions to L.A.-Ontario Airport or Las Vegas, where we would wait until the fog dissipated enough for us to continue on to our destination.

    Subject to review, the NTSB may well determine that the real tragedy here was that it likely could have been avoided by an exercise of human patience.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Ya, I do not know what the responsibilies nor (none / 0) (#5)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Jan 27, 2020 at 03:35:10 PM EST
    capacities are of the Van Nuys ATC.

    Looking at the flight path it's clear they were traveling west by following the 101 freeway and then turned south following Las Virgenes Rd, a major surface street, in the seconds before impact.

    Following the 101 would have taken them west to the vicinity of Kobe's sports academy destination; following Las Virgenes would take them south and downhill down to the Malibu coast.

    Fog is thickest at the coast, and is blown (sucked, actually) off the coast, northward, toward the 101, up through the canyon that Las Virgenes Rd lies within. The fog then generally dissipates as it hits the warmer San Fernando and Conejo Valleys.

    It is possible that visibility was so bad at the (large) LV/101 intersection that the pilot thought he was still following the 101 when he was actually turned to follow Las Virgenes Rd.

    Regardless, by following LV south, it is highly likely that he quickly flew into even thicker and denser fog, as it was being funneled north.

    Parent

    The wreckage ended up (none / 0) (#6)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Jan 28, 2020 at 01:00:50 PM EST
    on the "Bark Park" trail, on which I have run, hiked, and biked many times.

    Just tragic.

    Parent

    R.I.P. Kobe Bryant, Daughter Gianna and 7 Others | 6 comments (6 topical)

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