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Ara Zobayan was the pilot of the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, California on January 26 killing Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna. Zobayan and six other people were killed in the crash.
I think Bryant responded to the question, "Are you flying it by yourself?" with "Dude, no," and then he makes a joke.
Right, which I took to mean solo and doesn't preclude flying it a bit while under the supervision of an experienced pilot. I think what this is all getting to is whether Kobe could have been flying? As noted, this chopper is typically flown by two pilots. Why is it typically flown by two pilots? Why would this pilot be flying it by himself, in bad weather? Or maybe he was flying it with Kobe assisting?
As noted, this chopper is typically flown by two pilots. Why is it typically flown by two pilots? Why would this pilot be flying it by himself, in bad weather? Or maybe he was flying it with Kobe assisting?
It doesn't sound as if Bryant ever piloted or co-piloted.
The helicopter that crashed Sunday morning in Calabasas, killing Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others on board, had the feel of a limousine and boasted a strong safety record, said the basketball star’s former pilot.
Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for Island Express Helicopters, told The Times he flew Bryant from 2014 to 2016. Nine times out of 10, he said, Bryant flew in “Two Echo X-ray” — the Sikorsky S-76B, tail No. N72EX, that went down Sunday morning. When Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016, he flew out of downtown Los Angeles in the same helicopter...
I didn't realize that he had health problems that made driving a car--or even being a passenger in one--difficult. (Orange County to Thousand Oaks is about a 2 hour drive here on a Sunday.)
According to a GQ profile in 2010, Bryant would use the helicopter to fly from his home in Orange County to Lakers home games and elsewhere. Bryant reportedly took advantage of the helicopter to help stay fit for games:
"Given his broken finger, his fragile knees, his sore back and achy feet, not to mention his chronic agita, Bryant can't sit in a car for two hours. The helicopter, therefore, ensures that he gets to Staples Center feeling fresh, that his body is warm and loose and fluid as mercury when he steps onto the court."
So the LAPD is grounded til afternoon, Ara is supposedly an IFR instructor who could have popped this thing up to 5,000ft and filed IFR to Camarillo ezpz and instead is following freeways. If you haven't been up front on an IFR trip it is a very different but fun world if you don't hit a hillside. Complete gray surrounds you.....wouldn't like to do it in a chopper, although apparently 2EX had a 4 axis autopilot which would have made it nice.
With everybody dead and nobody left to fill in the blanks it will be a bit before they figure out the why of Ara's decisions that morning.....
depends on how they are outfitted, but it is a huge chopper so they can seat a lot
Yeah, I'm not familiar with that chopper at all.. it just struck me as odd that one of that size would be owned by an individual. More something you see a corporation owning or something like that. Of course.. It's not like Kobe was scraping by so far as money.
NTSB I am confident will determine what the cause was.. I heard a report that they were doing a climbing left turn to 2400 to get out of a cloud layer and the chopper then just dove to the ground.
That.. Certainly makes me lean towards spatial disorientation.. But, the article also mentions the 'sputtering'.. Of course.. We don't know what info is accurate, necessarily, at this point.
And, that article mentions it was owned by a corporation.. But, I'd assume it was a Kobe corporation..
Am I correct that they were heading for the Van Nuys airport?
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