The police called out TMZ for reporting Kobe’s death before next of kin were notified. I would assume the families of the others on board knew they were on Kobe’s helicopter. It adds to the sadness and horror to find out that way. The police have had to guard access to the crash site as people were hiking in to get a look.
Yes, I am sure it must be a shock. It is the norm in air accidents, isn’t it? News reports that a plane on a certain route crashed with no survivors aren’t held until hundreds of families are notified.
TMZ was on local radio talking about it yesterday. They claim to have received a tip from within law enforcement and had been in touch with “Kobe’s people” for an hour before they released their story. Harvey Levin claims that he was assured that Kobe’s family was notified and that Kobe’s “people” gave TMZ the okay to run the story. https://knx1070.radio.com/articles/harvey-levin-says-he-had-permission-from-kobes-people https://nypost.com/2020/01/28/tmz-head-harvey-levin-claims-kobes-people-gave-approval-to-publish-crash-story/
They also claim that the sheriff’s department leaks led to the initial rumor that all of Kobe’s children were involved in the crash and that, in scolding TMZ, they are trying to divert attention away from their own leaks.
Still home with a really nasty cold virus, trying not to expose the world to my infection, especially as jittery as people are about the coronavirus, I’ve been diving into Youtube. Today, I watched Stephen Colbert talk about this tragedy on his show.
I had no idea that Stephen had lost his father and TWO of his brothers in Eastern Air Flight 1212 crash that happened on September 11, 1974.
Stephen made sure to mention each and every name of those who passed in this accident, and he went further by asking for specific outcomes.
It was a touching piece…
I’m not a pilot, either, but thought this was interesting:
“ “Using instruments, you’re at the mercy of controllers and as busy as Los Angeles airspace is, you’re likely to get routed all over the place,” said Brian Beker, a longtime fixed-wing pilot who flew out of Santa Monica for years. “In L.A., it’s a notorious headache.””
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-last-flight-of-kobe-bryant/ar-BBZp0ul
@Nrdsb4 Thank you for posting the link to the Colbert comments on this tragic crash.
Apologies for being OT but for anyone interested in an excellent and moving conversation on loss and grief I would recommend this watching this conversation between Stephan C and Anderson Cooper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB46h1koicQ
If your flying on instruments (IFR), especially in areas like LA, controllers are applying sequencing and separation standards for safety. If you are landing in the area, aircraft are sequenced,in turn, to the runway. If you are traversing airport control zones they make sure you don’t interfere, or collide, with airport arrivals/departures. Nuisance or safety?
Thanks, @Rivet2000 , that makes sense.
I find this kind of detective work fascinating. I just listened to a podcast that mentions this, among many other interesting details in understandable language. 24 minutes, but kept my attention for the duration.
I remember watching Colbert speak with Anderson Cooper and being very touched, just like I was listening to him talk about this tragic crash.
Vanessa Bryant put out a beautiful, loving statement about her sorrow and her love for her family and her grief for all the victims and their loved ones. Very thankful for the outpouring of support, the shared stories etc.
She also spoke of a fund that was set up to support the families of the victims.
Yes, I forgot to add that in the comments I read, IFR requires a pilot to land where he is told to land, not where he wants to land. They hypothesized that may have been another possible reason for the accident - the desire to land at the Mamba Academy, not an airport miles away.
One news article is saying his wife can’t stop crying but she has to be strong for her other daughters… I can’t even imagine this.
Then I think about all the families just in Chicago, where I live, that lose loved ones from gang /gun violence. It’s all just really sad…
In 35 years of IFR flying, I have never been forced by ATC to land at an airport that I did not request to land at. The only scenario that I could see that happening was during 9/11, where they forced everyone to land ASAP.
Likely the pilot thought he’d be able to do this flight VFR, and got himself into a bad situation without enough time to get out of it. Given a choice between going IFR or crashing, I’m sure he would have climbed and gotten an IFR clearance. Sometimes people lose situational awareness, and if you’re flying close to terrain with low visibility, there isn’t much room for error. Hindsight is 20/20.
Could there also be situations where the desired airport became unexpectedly unavailable (e.g. another aircraft crashed or became disabled on the runway) so incoming aircraft are diverted to some other airport?
Sure, that happens. Sometimes airports close because of weather, also. These situations are rare, but you aren’t just routed somewhere you don’t want to go, you tell ATC where you want to go, based upon fuel, company preferences, landing capabilities, weather (or you go into holding and wait). And if they have shut a runway or airport down, it’s irrelevant whether you’re flying IFR or VFR, nobody is getting in. Though I suppose you could declare an emergency and do as you like, but that would have to be a dire situation.
But will they direct someone to a private landing pad instead of an airport? That’s what the folks on WaPo were saying, that he wouldn’t have been able to land at his academy.
No idea. But at the point where he needs to climb to stay out of trouble, remaining VFR doesn’t matter. My husband said he just heard that the pilot had said he was climbing right before the crash, so obviously he realized he was getting in trouble.
I don’t think it matter much what he originally filed for, if it’s legal. What matters is when the situation changes, you adapt. Sounds like it was just too late. Things can happen very quickly.
A chief correspondent for ABC, Matt Guttman, has been suspended for reporting false information regarding the crash - he said on air that all of Bryant’s children were onboard.
Ironic. Takes ABC 4 days to suspend a male reporter that reported false information about the crash. Yet the Washington post immediately suspended (and within 2 days had to reinstate and “regrets” their action) a female reporter that reported truthful - but uncomfortable - information about Kobe Bryant’s past. Oh, and the female reporter also had to temporarily move out of her home due to death threats regarding the truthful information she posted. Wonder if Matt received similar death threats?
That would be an helpful comparison to consider if these suspensions were from the same news agency, but they’re not. They’re not run by the same managers, not owned by the same corporation. You’re trying to make it male vs female, but since these companies are not run by the same management, it’s really not a valid comparison.
Difference in how we view and treat men vs women isn’t an issue at one particular company - it’s a societal issue and this is a good example of it… as is how we ignore issues where it was “just” a woman who was the victim.