Kobe Bryant and others Dead in Helicopter crash

Helico-pterFunk

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BGOL Legend













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Teknique310

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Registered
Wonder what gayle and barkley gonna say today

Thats wasted time & energy wondering what they think!

Both of the above mentioned pay their invoices early & or on time. Does that matter ? Yes, because we are Black & doing business. And both are extremely generous on top to those who provided the services rendered.

Wake up an hour early, or go to bed an hour late & allocate that 1 hour to your passion. Whether its your your gig, business or hobby or working out. Your results will bloom !!!

You will slowly eliminate the need the apply others success to some fucking conspiracy & see that real time dedicated will equal results. Actual gifts & talent with that dedication to said craft can equal greatness!

 

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Thats wasted time & energy wondering what they think!

Both of the above mentioned pay their invoices early & or on time. Does that matter ? Yes, because we are Black & doing business. And both are extremely generous on top to those who provided the services rendered.

Wake up an hour early, or go to bed an hour late & allocate that 1 hour to your passion. Whether its your your gig, business or hobby or working out. Your results will bloom !!!

You will slowly eliminate the need the apply others success to some fucking conspiracy & see that real time dedicated will equal results. Actual gifts & talent with that dedication to said craft can equal greatness!



#mambamentality
 

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Kobe Bryant Taught Himself How to Play Piano to Stop His Wife Vanessa From Divorcing Him
BYCHRIS YUSCAVAGE
News Editor. @cyuscavage
Apr 19, 2016
Image via @kobebryant on Instagram
Yesterday was Kobe and Vanessa Bryant’s 15th wedding anniversary. Looking back now, it’s kind of crazy that Kobe and Vanessa got married just four days before the start of the 2001 NBA Playoffs, which ended with the Lakers winning the NBA championship. But that’s when they decided to get hitched, and they're still going strong all these years later.

As you probably know, though, marriage hasn’t always been easy for the couple. They nearly broke up after Kobe was accused of sexual assault in Colorado in 2003, and back in 2011, Vanessa actually went as far as to file for divorce from Kobe. She cited “irreconcilable differences” as her official reason for wanting a divorce, and at the time, numerous sources told TMZ Sports that infidelity was at the heart of her decision to divorce Kobe.

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But Kobe was determined not to let his marriage end in divorce. According to an excellent new The Undefeated story on Kobe—written by Ramona Shelburne—Kobe worked tirelessly to try and convince Vanessa not to divorce him. But he didn’t do it by sending her dozens of flowers (or by buying her a $4 million ring!). Instead, he did it by learning to play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano. And since this is Kobe we’re talking about it, he didn’t learn to play by hiring someone to teach him. He taught himself.

“I wanted to play something nice for Vanessa,” he told Shelburne. “Sitting down and taking lessons would be too easy. So I taught myself by ear.”

It wasn’t easy, but Kobe spent hours listening to “Moonlight Sonata” on loop, and eventually, he was able to learn how to play the song.
“If you just sit down and say, ‘I’m going to learn this thing until I do,’" he said, “there’s not really much out there that you can’t figure out eventually.”
Kobe was also able to convince Vanessa not to divorce him.
You can watch Kobe play the song here:

He also tweeted about playing the song after a loss to the Bulls in 2013:
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata calms me down when I reach my breaking point #relaxandfocus pic.twitter.com/i2imK51p
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 22, 2013



Talk about setting the bar high for the rest of the guys in the world...
Shelburne’s Kobe story is filled with tons of gems just like this one. You can check it out here. You can also check out a great look at Kobe’s final game here.
 

playahaitian

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Pilot in Kobe Bryant crash had FAA violation in 2015
11:44 PM ET
  • Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- The pilot of a helicopter that crashed into a Southern California hillside and killed Kobe Bryant, himself, and seven others, was reprimanded five years ago for flying without permission into airspace while he had reduced visibility, according to a Federal Aviation Administration enforcement record.
Ara Zobayan was counseled by an FAA investigator after he violated FAA rules by crossing into busy airspace near Los Angeles International Airport on May 11, 2015, according to the record, which was first reported Friday by the Los Angeles Times.
The record doesn't indicate whether Zobayan was carrying any passengers at the time.
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Zobayan, 50, died Jan. 26 when his helicopter plunged at high speed into a hillside in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. Zobayan had been trying to climb above a cloud layer when the aircraft banked left and plunged 1,200 feet (366 meters) at high speed. There has been speculation that the pilot became disoriented in the foggy weather. The crash remains under investigation.
The crash also killed Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six others. The victims will be honored Monday at a public memorial at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

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At the time, Zobayan was chief pilot for the charter service Island Express Helicopters Inc.
He was flying for the same company during the 2015 incident.
According to the FAA report, Zobayan's helicopter was near the Hawthorne, California, airport and heading north when he asked the LAX tower for permission to cross LAX airspace. Zobayan was told that weather conditions didn't meet the minimum for pilots using visual flight rules (VFR) -- that is, flying by sight.
Zobayan was asked whether he could maintain "VFR conditions."
Zobayan replied that he could "maintain special VFR" -- meaning he sought permission to fly by sight in less-than-optimal visibility.
When air traffic control denied the request and told him to stay clear of the area, Zobayan replied that he could "maintain VFR" but during the conversation, the helicopter entered the airspace, according to the record.
Zobayan contacted authorities and his company after the incident and was cooperative. But an FAA investigator faulted him for failing to properly plan and review current weather at LAX, which would have allowed him time to communicate earlier with the tower to receive clearance, according to the record.
The report said Zobayan "admitted his error, took responsibility for his action, and was willing to take any other necessary steps toward compliance.''
"There are no indications that this is a repeated incident and there are no signs that this incident is a trend with Mr. Zobayan," the report said.

Zobayan was counseled "on operating in Class B airspace, special VFR weather minimums, proper planning, reviewing weather, and anticipating required action," the report said. "He was cooperative and receptive to the counseling."
Island Express Helicopters Inc. reported that it conducted additional ground and flight training with Zobayan.
Veteran helicopter pilots were divided over the severity of the FAA violation, the Times reported.
"I don't know a single pilot out there who hasn't violated a rule," Shawn Coyle said. "If that's the only violation he's ever had then I would say he's pretty safe."
But former Island Express pilot Kurt Deetz said entering LAX airspace without approval can be dangerous because of the possible presence of commercial jets. He also questioned Zobayan's communication with air traffic controllers.
"You can't request special VFR and then they deny you and you say, 'Oh wait a minute, actually I'm VFR,'" he told the Times. "That's not how it works. It shows that perhaps his understanding of special VFR as opposed to VFR was cloudy."

Vanessa Bryant sues helicopter operator in crash that killed Kobe Bryant and 8 others

Vanessa Bryant at a public memorial Monday in Los Angeles for her husband, NBA great Kobe Bryant, and their daughter Gianna. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
By
Lori Aratani
Feb. 24, 2020 at 9:20 p.m. EST
Lawyers for Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Lakers great Kobe Bryant, on Monday filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the company that operated the helicopter that crashed into a California hillside last month, killing her husband, 13-year-old daughter and seven others.
The suit was filed on the same day that thousands of fans gathered at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to remember Bryant and his daughter Gianna. The lawsuit alleges that the helicopter company, Island Express, was “vicariously liable” for any and all actions of pilot Ara George Zobayan, including his “negligent and careless piloting.”
“Defendant Island Express Helicopters authorized and/or permitted a flight with full knowledge that the subject helicopter was flying into unsafe weather conditions,” the suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges.
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Lack of ‘black box’ could hider Kobe Bryant crash investigation
A memorial to Kobe Bryant is one of the new murals to appear on the art wall at the Vertical Church in Yuma, Ariz. (Randy Hoeft/The Yuma Sun/AP)
The suit also faults Zobayan for failing to “properly monitor and assess” the weather before takeoff and for failing to “abort the flight when he knew of the cloudy conditions.”
In an emailed statement, a spokesman for Island Express said: “This was a tragic accident. We will have no comment on the pending litigation.”
Bryant, who regularly flew in helicopters, was traveling with Gianna and the others to a basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks when they were killed in the Jan. 26 crash near Calabasas, Calif., about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The investigation is ongoing, but many have focused on the poor weather conditions the morning of the crash. There were low clouds and restricted visibility in the area.

Video included as part of an update released this month by investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board showed the helicopter disappearing into clouds before emerging. A witness on a nearby mountain bike trail spotted the helicopter shortly before it slammed into a hillside. The NTSB report did not indicate why the helicopter crashed. An analysis of the crash site and the account by the witness indicated the engine was supplying power to the helicopter’s rotors up until the moment of impact.
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NTSB releases report into Kobe Bryant helicopter crash
A full report into the crash is likely to take a year or more to complete.
Zobayan, 50, had amassed about 8,200 hours of flight time and had held a commercial pilot’s certificate since 2007. Former colleagues described Zobayan, who spent a decade working for Island Express Helicopters, as cautious and professional. In his time at the company, he regularly served as Bryant’s pilot.

However, the lawsuit noted that in May 2015, Zobayan had previously been cited by the Federal Aviation Administration for violating visual flight rules by flying into an airspace of reduced visibility from weather conditions.
On the day of the crash, Zobayan had requested and received permission to pass through controlled airspace near the Burbank and Van Nuys airports in worse-than-normal visibility. Shortly after, he followed a helicopter route along Highway 101. He ascended to 2,300 feet and started to turn left before, for unknown reasons, the helicopter began diving at a high speed into a hillside.
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Helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant disappeared into clouds, then emerged in front of witness who saw deadly crash, NTSB says
The Bryant crash was the most high-profile of several recent deadly incidents involving helicopters. In December, a tour flight crashed in Hawaii in bad weather, killing seven people. In June, a helicopter hit a skyscraper in New York, bursting into flames and killing the pilot. In all, 51 people were killed in helicopter crashes last year, according to the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team, a joint industry and government group.

Bryant was a teenage phenomenon who entered the National Basketball Association straight out of high school in 1996. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets but was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he spent his entire 20-year career.
He retired as the NBA’s third-all-time leading scorer with 33,643 points and was expected to be inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on the first ballot this summer. He was a headlining member of a star-studded class that also includes Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

 
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