Fifth Avenue Forum

I read somewhere else that LAPD actually grounded all of their helos yesterday morning because the fog was so bad. That chopper/pilot had no business being in the air.

This is probably for the aviation thread, but there are a number of reasons that I will never get on a helicopter again. Incredibly experience, but no thanks.

My dad died last night. He's had a myriad of health problems over the last 7 years and has spent the last three months in the hospital and various rehab centers, but he wasn't getting any stronger. He'd told me repeatedly that he didn't want to live like this and that he just wanted to die so I know he's "better" off now but it's still such a shock. And my mom's an absolute wreck.

so sorry you had to join the club Tony. I've been a member for a little over 2 years though my mom passed in 2010 so I was a little more prepared . my condolences to you and your family.

My condolences, Tony. Last week seemed to be one hell of a week. Lost my grandma on Monday, and it was very sudden. She had just begun a fight with cancer, but it ended up being her heart that gave out. She was 82, and I never thought she'd go.

Sorry to hear that, Kane.

I read somewhere else that LAPD actually grounded all of their helos yesterday morning because the fog was so bad. That chopper/pilot had no business being in the air.

I noted the fog/overcast yesterday, but LAPD grounded because they operate over the full expanse of the city, not just over the freeway corridors that civilian helicopter pilots routinely use when traversing the airspace. Kobe's helicopter made its way from John Wayne Airport in Anaheim, up to DTLA, then orbited in the area of the LA Zoo for several minutes, then made its way across the north Valley all under VFR conditions. It was only once they got to the West Valley and then into the bit between the San Fernando Valley and Conejo Valley that things apparently got dicey, and they would not necessarily have known the conditions until they actually got there; it's not exactly a highly-trafficked area that would've had tons of reports detailing the conditions. And when I say the bit between the two valleys, I mean *right* after leaving the SFV; the crash site is literally just the other side of the hill and immediately south of the first freeway exit outside the SFV.

One early theory I've seen is that it is common practice when encountering unexpected IFR conditions that you climb and do a 180 and head back into the VFR area you just departed; Kobe's pilot may not have accounted for the fact that the hills rose up on all sides in that particular corridor. They crashed going the opposite direction of their intended flight path (crash is on the west face of a hillside), but there is at least one eyewitness account that the aircraft did not exactly sound normal in the moments before impact, and the ADS data of the final minute of flight is pretty erratic as regards vertical speed; they apparently impacted the ground at over -4,000 feet-per-minute vert, which sounds pretty sporty for an aircraft under complete control and functioning normally.

Honestly, this sounds eerily similar to the helicopter crash that just claimed the lives of half a dozen people in Kauai last month.

Sorry Kane.

This is probably for the aviation thread, but there are a number of reasons that I will never get on a helicopter again. Incredibly experience, but no thanks.

Couldn't agree more. I did a helicopter ride with my wife and daughter at the Chester County Balloon Festival a couple years ago. It was a neat experience and I'm glad they got to try it, but I never felt comfortable in there. And I say this as someone that used to be on an HH-65 regularly.

Helicopter is Latin for "death box". True story, I looked it up. Like Freddy said yesterday, you go engine-out in a fixed-wing aircraft, you've got yourself a nice glider. You go engine-out in a helo, and you've got yourself what amounts to a airborne Dumpster.

Confirmed today that among the nine victims were two other minor girls (basketball teammates), both parents of one of the girls, and the other girl's mother, the girls' basketball coach, plus Kobe, Gianna, and the pilot.

The one adult was a college baseball coach.

Why he used the helicopter:

Yeah, that was when he was a player. The inference is he just liked not sitting in traffic and got used to it.

To be fair, he brought some of that sitting-in-traffic stuff on himself when he decided to buy a house that was 40 miles from the practice facility and Staples Center.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/285 ... ies-age-58

HOF'er Chris Doleman passes at 58.

#H2P

Damn. He just tweeted the other day that he’d officially made it two years living with brain cancer.

With the Kobe stuff... The most annoying people on social media are the "WHAT ABOUT DA TROOPS?!" people. Like we are not allowed to memorialize anyone that isn't a TROOP or FIRST RESPONDER. These people are the worrrrrrst. Most of them are fat, out of shape slobs too. #rickrude

With the Kobe stuff... The most annoying people on social media are the "WHAT ABOUT DA TROOPS?!" people. Like we are not allowed to memorialize anyone that isn't a TROOP or FIRST RESPONDER. These people are the worrrrrrst. Most of them are fat, out of shape slobs too. #rickrude

I’ve seen the “THERE WERE 8 OTHER PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THE CRASH!!!” Post. Yes, their death is tragic as well. And before the crash you had no idea who they were, but you knew who Kobe was.

With the Kobe stuff... The most annoying people on social media are the "WHAT ABOUT DA TROOPS?!" people. Like we are not allowed to memorialize anyone that isn't a TROOP or FIRST RESPONDER. These people are the worrrrrrst. Most of them are fat, out of shape slobs too. #rickrude

I’ve seen the “THERE WERE 8 OTHER PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THE CRASH!!!” Post. Yes, their death is tragic as well. And before the crash you had no idea who they were, but you knew who Kobe was.

Yes, that's annoying too. I've seen both kinds of comments on the WTAJ Facebook page, and I'm fairly certain race plays a role in a lot of Central PA boomers losing their minds over it.

Wait till they find out that most of the military is Puerto Rican.

The worst barracks fight I ever got drawn into was between Puerto Rican's and Mexicans.

The worst barracks fight I ever got drawn into was between Puerto Rican's and Mexicans.

Who won? Weapons?