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OMG... RIP Kobe
- Thread starter Delboy
- Start date
Helicopter parents are the worst.
Don't quit your day job....
bigpoppa
Well-known member
Apparently kawhi used the same pilot.... I will never fathom this..guy leaves the greatest country in the world to go to a place that's constantly burning, or drought-ing or has earth quakes...then flies into a helicopter with a guy who crashes into a mountain...talk about luck.
Paraphrased news out today:
Pilot was IFR rated, chopper had sufficient instruments for IFR, chopper company did not have necessary certification to conduct IFR flights. Apparently that is standard practice in the region as it reduces maintenance and insurance costs and doesn't result in too many missed flights.
Comment by me:
The extension to that is if the chopper is only being used VFR, some of the instruments required for IFR could have been to be out of service without affecting the ability of the chopper to fly. That works until you get yourself in a situation where you need those instruments to keep you alive. No pilot is good enough to fly in fog without proper instrumentation. NTSB should be able to determine if this was a potential factor quite quickly from the maintenance logs (assuming the logs were in good shape and not fabricated).
Pilot was IFR rated, chopper had sufficient instruments for IFR, chopper company did not have necessary certification to conduct IFR flights. Apparently that is standard practice in the region as it reduces maintenance and insurance costs and doesn't result in too many missed flights.
Comment by me:
The extension to that is if the chopper is only being used VFR, some of the instruments required for IFR could have been to be out of service without affecting the ability of the chopper to fly. That works until you get yourself in a situation where you need those instruments to keep you alive. No pilot is good enough to fly in fog without proper instrumentation. NTSB should be able to determine if this was a potential factor quite quickly from the maintenance logs (assuming the logs were in good shape and not fabricated).
At the end of it, LA sherriffs dept had grounded thier choppers due to fog, these guys asked for and got special permission to fly in those conditions on that day. Traffic in LA can suck, but it was Sunday on the way to a kids basketball practice. I feel bad for all involved , nobody getting in that aircraft imagined the outcome, celebrity not being inconvenienced has hit a new low.
Getthereitis has killed many many pilots and passengers. Aircraft are normally faster than ground transportation, but you need to be much more patient and accept that sometimes they are not a viable mode of transportation.
I completly get it, I've often spoken on this site about sailing. I occasionally still do 'deliveries' for owners that have booked a holiday on Island XXX or need a boat at event xx and here is my timeline. You make the call, the weather window is not looking good to go to XXX in that time frame. A very large percentage of the time the answer is " we have ### people booked on planes, have taken vacation, gone pretanning and we need the boat there!!". When i was younger and adventure was more appealing we'd go. Now that I'm just extra crew and not the decision maker I'm good with passing on opportunity.
Pilots like these guys flying celebrity know how fickle that business can be, when regular flights are required, there is big tips and back stage access involved , people dont want to say no. There is pressure to 'be the guy'
Pilots like these guys flying celebrity know how fickle that business can be, when regular flights are required, there is big tips and back stage access involved , people dont want to say no. There is pressure to 'be the guy'
Richie Valens, The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly: If the pilot hadn't crashed the plane, killing everyone on board, he could have bragged the rest of his life about how he flew the celebrities etc. Free drinks and hot chicks. There wouldn't have been much to talk about if he didn't fly them.
The helicopter is worth $13,000,000 with an operating cost of ~$2500/hr. How much more can the owners take? How could they be expected to pay $50,000 for an FDR or $20,000 for TAWS? /sarcasm
Crunching some numbers: Newport Beach to the arena would be a 1:45 drive plus or minus traffic.
Time from Newport Beach to the airport is 15 minutes and time from the other airport to the arena would be another 20 minutes. Airport to airport is 80 miles so another 40 minutes minimum flying a rhumb line so opting for the chopper would indicate about a 1:15 travel time. It's probably a lot more because a rhumb line direct through the region would be for Air Force One only. Throw in something for departure and arrival clearances and we're pretty close to a tie at best.
Time from Newport Beach to the airport is 15 minutes and time from the other airport to the arena would be another 20 minutes. Airport to airport is 80 miles so another 40 minutes minimum flying a rhumb line so opting for the chopper would indicate about a 1:15 travel time. It's probably a lot more because a rhumb line direct through the region would be for Air Force One only. Throw in something for departure and arrival clearances and we're pretty close to a tie at best.
Were they actually flying airport to airport though or was that the flight plan and they were getting out in the parking lot at basketball camp? If the helicopter is just being used airport to airport, you might as well use a plane for 10% of the cost.
And deal with the schleps and poor people? No way....we've got a helicopter at work and while I'm terrified, it's an awesome ride.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Newport Beach to the Staples center arena would be <20 minutes flying time. The drive time could be as little as 1.5hr and as much as 2hrs depending on, time, traffic and route.
Driving Newport Beach to Thousand Oaks would be a little over 2 hours on a Sunday morning, 3+hrs in the afternoon, <35 minutes in a helicopter.
There are heliports all over So Cal, they don't need to use airports.
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I'm not saying fly commercial. Use a private plane. For airport to airport flights, there are very few instances where a plane wouldn't be much faster and much much cheaper than a helicopter. The chopper wins when you open up the many extra landing locations so you can cut the drive time of the VIP's at each end of the trip.
I gathered the flight was from John Wayne AP to Camarillo AP. Then to the Mamba Sport Centre. With the fog a fixed wing would have more problems with special VFR and holding patterns. Google didn't show a helipad at the sport center.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I used to play mens hockey in California for a team sponsored by Bud Light (one of my team mates was the VP Hockey for Budweiser). Our mens team were the 'opponents' in a few celebrity hockey games each year, Jerry Brukchiemer and Cuba Gooding would sometimes arrive by Helicopter, they would land in the rink parking lot.
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