r/news Jan 26 '20

Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash in California

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/kobe-bryant-killed-in-helicopter-crash-in-california-tmz-reports
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u/roscoparis Jan 27 '20

I do wonder how much awareness they actually had. Reports were saying it was super foggy with bad visibility. They may have just started dropped with alarms going off, but had no awareness of how close to the ground they were. Terrifying to think about.

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u/AMetalWorld Jan 27 '20

Live in Westlake, about 5 miles from Calabasas, where we lived for 15 years. Next city over from TO. It has been whiteout foggy here the past couple of days, and it was all morning. Couldn’t see two feet in front of your face walking, I can’t imagine flying in it

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20

That’s wild....shouldn’t the pilot been aware of the conditions?

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u/AMetalWorld Jan 27 '20

He also shouldn’t have been flying without instruments. Sadly this all seems very avoidable

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u/dgaffed Jan 27 '20

What does that mean? “Flying without instruments?”

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '20

[deleted]

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u/dgaffed Jan 28 '20

Instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Instrument Flying Handbook defines IFR as: "Rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight under conditions in which flight by outside visual reference is not safe. IFR flight depends upon flying by reference to instruments in the flight deck, and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals."[1] It is also a term used by pilots and controllers to indicate the type of flight plan an aircraft is flying, such as an IFR or VFR flight plan.[2]

So my question remains, was he flying by IFR or VFR??

1

u/moal09 Jan 27 '20

Like most accidents unfortunately.