Posting here some thoughts from a licensed pilot:


NTSB officials said the pilot had asked for and received special clearance to fly in heavy fog just minutes before the crash.

Flying in inherently dangerous, rules are in place for safety reasons. Manipulating the rules even if it's legal can get you killed. The pilot's altitude and course were erratic indicating he was flying in and out of instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and he had no situational awareness and ultimately flew into the ground. Basically what he was doing is called scud running. Scud running can cause vertigo really fast because you are looking outside the aircraft into the soup, the fog, the clouds. You can’t tell up from down or left from right, you have to depend on the instruments. In my view, his first mistake was not filling an instrument flight plan before take-off. His second mistake was not filling IFR in the air after the weather started to deteriorate. His third mistake was to continue on a prayer and a hope the weather was going to get better. His fourth mistake was he was not being truthful with Air Traffic Control (ATC), there is no way he maintained visual flight conditions (VFR). His fifth mistake he squawked 1200 and descended below a good altitude for radar contact. I called the pilot’s actions a mistake because his actions lead to the end result. There are indications the aircraft's speed was 184 MPH and descending at a rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute when it struck the ground. That would mean the pilot lost all situational awareness and ground impact was imminent. At that speed and rate of descent, death was instant.

A better choice in my view would be to file an IFR flight plan, program it into his flight management system, get his clearance, take off and turn on the autopilot. If his course needed to change ATC would have given him vectors, all the way to his destination. The S-76 max cruising altitude is 20,000 feet. The pilot's last reported altitude was 1200 feet. And It has the state of the art navigational equipment installed. He could have made an instrument approach at his destination and he didn't need 5,000 feet of runway to land, 200-foot minimums or be traveling at 110 knots as I always did.

I attached a picture of me flying in the soup, IFR, with zero visibility. The white you see behind me is thick clouds. Flying on instruments requires training and experience. I can’t imagine Kobe’s pilot not being instrument rated and current. The NTSB will determine if he was. I find the death of all these individuals so, so unnecessary. R.I.P.

Is Kobe the first really big death (in the sense that they were well-known globally, their manner of death was shocking/tragic and there is much outpouring of grief from many people) since JFK Jr.?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone forgetting that he was accused if rape?

That happened a long time ago.

And the guy just died, with his beaitiful DD.

RIP

The victim is stlill alive. She was a 19 year old hotel worker. Do you doubt that she was poor and helpless and had no voice at all.

I am heart broken that Kobe and others have died. His greatness and his charity work and all the great things he did does not absolve him of his crime and his sin against this woman. [b]

I hope that the things he achieved in later life was informed by his desire to atone in some ways. Remember that he has a 17 year old daughter who will have the chance of a lot going for her in two years time inspire of her father's death.A whole lot more than a poor girl working in a hotel who was violently raped and choked.

Kobe was a great man and a great athlete. Kobe also raped a young girl and was an adulterer. Both realities do exist at the same time.

You have no idea if he actually raped her or not. Anyways the term "rape" is used rather loosely now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of fans we’re telling personal stories about how he took time out to talk with them, and do nice gestures. When people got injured, like Durant, apparently Kobe was the first to call. He was apparently very humble off the court.

you need to learn more adjectives. being nice to someone in need does not make one humble.

You need to learn a little bit about the word ‘humble’. He didn’t just help people in need, but took time with fans, and used his platform to help lots of people. Now, if you want to discuss the fact that his DNA had an ego attached to it, ok you got me. Any NBA player to get to that league has an ego as it comes with the confidence to be great and expectations to be there.
However, as much as any NBA player, the last 20 years, he used it for some good off the court. On the court, he thought he was the best and he was, as he’d try to crush you.

again, helpful, friendly, generous and humble are different things. i don't understand why you insist that he must be humble - the work nobody ever used to describe him while he was alive.

At least make true statements. I’ve heard many people say that they couldn’t believe how down to earth he was when he was alive.

There is somebody on this thread that does not understand that you can be self confident and humble and also does not understand "leave it on the court".

off the court Kobe Bryant compared himself to Walt Disney in his ability to create imaginary worlds. he was insanely arrogant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think there is a difference between someone who knowingly and intentionally rapes someone and someone who is confused about consent and unintentionally rapes someone. It may be a similarly traumatic experience for the survivor but I see the person who committed the rape differently.

In this case, both consented to sex but then Kobe got rough. They didn't have a conversation about the roughness, she didn't say no (understandably as his arm was around her neck) but he wasn't aware she didn't want it. She at some point said no when he asked her a question and he immediately stopped. Before she left, they kissed some more and she asked him for some autographs and later that night bragged to others about the size of his d*ck. The aftermath was confusing for both of them. She experienced something scary she hadn't consented to. He just blithely went about doing what he usually did and thought things were fine as he stopped when she actually said the word no and she asked him for autographs afterwards. She processed it as being sexually assaulted and later he realized when he heard how she felt when he was rough that that part was non consensual.

He learned from it, learned to be very careful about consent after that. No further reports ever came out of them assaulting anyone.

You don’t know this to be true at all.

Nor do you know otherwise. Kobe has been scandal free since this incident.

Why can't he be all of these things? A great athlete and a rich man, a good father and contrite husband, a rapist and an adulterer? He did not suffer in his life and career for doing a criminal thing, like a Colin Kapernick is suffering for doing a moral and righteous thing.

If he was not the money making talent that he was, he would not have been so protected by the sports industry. Very remarkable for a Black man to have reached such heights.

His later life was examplary after that and obviously legally he was free, and his wife, public opinion and family forgave him and embraced him. He was a one in a million lucky guy.

I attended a conference about sexual assault and the attorney for the victim he raped said that she dropped the charges because she began getting death threats.

Anonymous wrote:i think there is a difference between someone who knowingly and intentionally rapes someone and someone who is confused about consent and unintentionally rapes someone. It may be a similarly traumatic experience for the survivor but I see the person who committed the rape differently.

In this case, both consented to sex but then Kobe got rough. They didn't have a conversation about the roughness, she didn't say no (understandably as his arm was around her neck) but he wasn't aware she didn't want it. She at some point said no when he asked her a question and he immediately stopped. Before she left, they kissed some more and she asked him for some autographs and later that night bragged to others about the size of his d*ck. The aftermath was confusing for both of them. She experienced something scary she hadn't consented to. He just blithely went about doing what he usually did and thought things were fine as he stopped when she actually said the word no and she asked him for autographs afterwards. She processed it as being sexually assaulted and later he realized when he heard how she felt when he was rough that that part was non consensual.

He learned from it, learned to be very careful about consent after that. No further reports ever came out of them assaulting anyone.

You don’t know this to be true at all.

Anonymous wrote:i think there is a difference between someone who knowingly and intentionally rapes someone and someone who is confused about consent and unintentionally rapes someone. It may be a similarly traumatic experience for the survivor but I see the person who committed the rape differently.

In this case, both consented to sex but then Kobe got rough. They didn't have a conversation about the roughness, she didn't say no (understandably as his arm was around her neck) but he wasn't aware she didn't want it. She at some point said no when he asked her a question and he immediately stopped. Before she left, they kissed some more and she asked him for some autographs and later that night bragged to others about the size of his d*ck. The aftermath was confusing for both of them. She experienced something scary she hadn't consented to. He just blithely went about doing what he usually did and thought things were fine as he stopped when she actually said the word no and she asked him for autographs afterwards. She processed it as being sexually assaulted and later he realized when he heard how she felt when he was rough that that part was non consensual.

He learned from it, learned to be very careful about consent after that. No further reports ever came out of them assaulting anyone.

What do you mean by this statement?

Anonymous wrote:i think there is a difference between someone who knowingly and intentionally rapes someone and someone who is confused about consent and unintentionally rapes someone. It may be a similarly traumatic experience for the survivor but I see the person who committed the rape differently.

In this case, both consented to sex but then Kobe got rough. They didn't have a conversation about the roughness, she didn't say no (understandably as his arm was around her neck) but he wasn't aware she didn't want it. She at some point said no when he asked her a question and he immediately stopped. Before she left, they kissed some more and she asked him for some autographs and later that night bragged to others about the size of his d*ck. The aftermath was confusing for both of them. She experienced something scary she hadn't consented to. He just blithely went about doing what he usually did and thought things were fine as he stopped when she actually said the word no and she asked him for autographs afterwards. She processed it as being sexually assaulted and later he realized when he heard how she felt when he was rough that that part was non consensual.

He learned from it, learned to be very careful about consent after that. No further reports ever came out of them assaulting anyone.

I’ve been the defending Kobe against the rapist posters, but this post I completely agree with.

Injuries were NOT consistent with consensual s x.

The rape victim injuries were. Of consistent with consensual sex According to doctors.
Anyways, while his legacy will always include this rape, he did not suffer professionally or socially because of this though. He bought Vanessa the 4 million diamond ring and went on to have 3 more kids. In the end, he had phenomenal talent because as a Black man he could have been very villified for less but he found his way and did very well. The big loss is to the families.

i think there is a difference between someone who knowingly and intentionally rapes someone and someone who is confused about consent and unintentionally rapes someone. It may be a similarly traumatic experience for the survivor but I see the person who committed the rape differently.

In this case, both consented to sex but then Kobe got rough. They didn't have a conversation about the roughness, she didn't say no (understandably as his arm was around her neck) but he wasn't aware she didn't want it. She at some point said no when he asked her a question and he immediately stopped. Before she left, they kissed some more and she asked him for some autographs and later that night bragged to others about the size of his d*ck. The aftermath was confusing for both of them. She experienced something scary she hadn't consented to. He just blithely went about doing what he usually did and thought things were fine as he stopped when she actually said the word no and she asked him for autographs afterwards. She processed it as being sexually assaulted and later he realized when he heard how she felt when he was rough that that part was non consensual.

He learned from it, learned to be very careful about consent after that. No further reports ever came out of them assaulting anyone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone forgetting that he was accused if rape?

And having affairs with 100+ women.

How do you know this?

Yes. Please explain. This was not his reputation after the scandal. He was known as a devoted family after the assault allegations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone forgetting that he was accused if rape?

And having affairs with 100+ women.

How do you know this?