CA - Kobe Bryant, 41, daughter GiGi, 13, & 7 others die in helicopter crash, Calabasas, 26 Jan 2020

[SeattleStew]

Wow, that is so cool!

Yes, it really speaks to his character. What a busy man, and he took his time and resources to follow-up with her. I was hoping this would get some attention because it so illustrates how Kobe really did care about others and how they were doing. Definitely not some myth or public relations bs.

 

[Niner]

RIP Kobe, Gianni, John, Keri, Alyssa, Ara, Christina, Sarah & Payton...

 

[Quiet Time]

Kobe Bryant sure has a beautiful smile...

 

[SuziQ]

The Daily Mail website has published an article of Kobe’s former teammates like LeBron James crying on the airport tarmac that website has reached a new low. Photos should not be published of people grieving.

It is not just the daily mail. I saw it on a live feed from an LA Station. I don't remember which one. They were filming the Laker players leaving the LAX terminal after they had just landed. They got the news in flight. So some blame should be placed on that station as they sold the footage to other news outlets.

I agree that it was very intrusive.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Yes, it really speaks to his character. What a busy man, and he took his time and resources to follow-up with her. I was hoping this would get some attention because it so illustrates how Kobe really did care about others and how they were doing. Definitely not some myth or public relations bs.

I know! And to spend all that extra time taking selfies, shaking hands & chatting with the locals, talking with the team. That obviously made such a positive impression on everyone who attended the game, but most certainly with the players! I really liked that article and had to laugh when the coach mentioned that so many people ‘just happened’ to be wearing Lakers gear that night and it was a full house lol. The rumor that KB might attend the game spread like wildfire I’m sure thru the town of Cashmere! That had to be a game to remember.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Other sporting news plane crash tragedies:

Knute Rockne - Notre Dame football’s legendary coach, was killed in March 1931 when his small plane crashed in a Kansas cornfield.

Roberto Clemente - The Pittsburgh Pirates star was 38 when he died in a crash off Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve 1972, just months after joining MLB’s 3,000-hit club during a distinguished 18-year career.

Thurman Munson - The 32-year-old New York Yankee was killed when his plane crashed at Akron-Canton Airport in Ohio as he practiced takeoffs and landings during an off-day in August 1979.

Rocky Marciano - The former heavyweight boxing champ died at the age of 45 when his Cessna crashed into a tree two miles from landing at an airport near Des Moines, Iowa, in September 1969.

Ken Hubbs - A Chicago Cubs infielder, the 22-year-old Hubbs was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1963. Months later, in February 1964, he was killed when his private plane crashed in Utah.

37 members of the Marshall University football team - After a losing game against East Carolina University, a charter plane carrying most of the Marshall team crashed into a hillside in November 1970 on its return to West Virginia.

14 members of the Wichita State football team - In October 1970, six weeks before the Marshall crash, 14 Wichita State players were among 31 killed when their plane crashed on a mountain near Silver Plume, Colo., on its way to Utah for a game the next day against Utah State University. Twenty-nine died at the scene. Trainer Tom Reeves and player John Taylor died later of injuries. Eight players and the co-pilot survived the crash.

Payne Stewart - Golfer Stewart, a winner of three major championships, was a passenger in a Learjet that crashed into a cornfield in October 1999. He was 42. Before the crash, the jet lost cabin pressure and flew for several hours on autopilot long after everyone on board had lost consciousness and died for lack of oxygen.

Cory Lidle - Four days after pitching in a playoff game for the New York Yankees, Lidle, 34, was operating a small plane when it crashed into a Manhattan high-rise building in October 2006. He and his flight instructor were killed.

Davey Allison - Allison, winner of 19 NASCAR races, including the 1992 Daytona 500, was 32 when he died after a helicopter he was piloting crashed in the Talladega Superspeedway in July 1993.

University of Evansville men's basketball coach Bobby Watson and 14 players - Watson and his players were en route to a game in Tennesee in December 1977 when their two-propeller charter airplane crashed in the fog in Evansville, Ind., shortly after take-off.

Iowa State University women's cross country team coach Ron Renko, an assistant coach and three team members - Renko, assistant coach Pat Moynihan, and team members Julie Rose, Susan Baxter and Sheryl Maahs, were killed in November 1985 when their plane lost power in one engine and crashed near Des Moines.

Kobe Bryant latest in long list of air tragedies involving sports figures

 

[zecats]

I know! And to spend all that extra time taking selfies, shaking hands & chatting with the locals, talking with the team. That obviously made such a positive impression on everyone who attended the game, but most certainly with the players! I really liked that article and had to laugh when the coach mentioned that so many people ‘just happened’ to be wearing Lakers gear that night and it was a full house lol. The rumor that KB might attend the game spread like wildfire I’m sure thru the town of Cashmere! That had to be a game to remember.

He has done much in his home town of Philly as well, and for his high school in Lower Merion. Many tributes coming in from those who knew him and grew up with him and played in school with him on all the sports radio shows today. Ironic connections to Saturday night's basketball game Lakers vs Sixers and also Kobe's final game in Philly before retirement. He has always been welcomed as a home-town guy/hero around here.

Philadelphia mourns Kobe Bryant’s death: ‘We lost another one of our own’

 

[oviedo]

5 sets of families ripped apart.

Just devastating news for all

 

[Deleted member 718]

NTSB_Newsroom
@NTSB_Newsroom

NTSB media briefing on investigation of Jan. 26 helicopter crash set for 4 pm (PST) Malibu/Lost Hills Station,
@LHSLASD
, 27050 Agoura Rd, Calabasas, CA.
10:36 AM · Jan 27, 2020·
https://twitter.com/LASDHQ
NTSB_Newsroom on Twitter

 

[squareandrabbet]

Matt Mauser gushed about his “beautiful, smart, funny” wife, Christina Mauser, on the “Today” show early Monday after a sleepless night following her death in Sunday’s fiery California chopper crash.

“I’ve got three small kids and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate life with three kids and no mom,” he told the show in a phone call. “I’m scared more than anything — I’m a little scared for the future.”

Mauser — who had also taught Bryant’s kids both Spanish and some hoops — said he had a slumber party with his kids where they watched the endless tributes on TV to the nine who died, including Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.

Breaking down, he recalled his daughter telling him “it was nice to know that everyone was hurting along with us.” “I know that that sounds odd, but it does kind of help,” he said about the outpouring of “mourning and hurting.”

He said he knew all the victims in the Calabasas crash, saying, “It was a family. They all really cared for each other.

https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/husband-of-christina-mauser-victim-in-kobe-bryant-crash-speaks-out/

I was thinking after the fact, the other girls were probably GiGi's specially close friends.

 

[Katerz]

I was thinking after the fact, the other girls were probably GiGi's specially close friends.

I was thinking the same thing especially about Sarah and Payton? They just keep saying they’re from Orange County and nothing else.

 

[Seattle1]

I wanted to share this local newspaper article from a couple weeks ago. Kobe and Gianna flew to Cashmere, Washington, a dinky little town, to visit a female High School basketball player that they befriended last summer during a basketball camp. They promised to come see her play, and they did:

Van Lith and Cashmere girls dominate in front of Kobe Bryant

Wow, that is so cool!

A local shared with me Gigi made several trips to Cashmere (apple capital of the world - pop 3,000) prior to the 1/11/20 public outing with Kobe. She loved it there -- said more girls looked like her there than in LA. She made friends with Cashmere's HV (just signed with Louisville -ranked #2 HS, Class of 2020) at bb camp. Gigi would practice with HV and HV's dad (Kobe, not wanting his presence to distract, would skype in to watch-- silent mentor). Nobody in Cashmere looking to cash-in on her photos/stories. To them - Kobe was a dad first, celeb was last on his list. Small town respect.

ETA: From Kobe's instagram - 2 weeks ago.

Kobe Bryant on Instagram: “We took a trip to #cashmere today to watch @haileyvanlith11 hoop and she and her teammates put on a show! Can’t wait to watch her play next…”

 

[zecats]

I was thinking the same thing especially about Sarah and Payton? They just keep saying they’re from Orange County and nothing else.

They were on the basketball team she was on. . But I'd also assume they were friends since they, among many others on her team, were riding on the helicopter to the games with one or both of their parents.

 

[sloane7777]

Kobe Bryant sure has a beautiful smile...

My daughter used to model and years ago she did a sports catalog and shooting the hoop opposite of her was Kobe , Ill treasure that a bit more now !

 

[BeachSky]

Husband of woman who died in crash that killed Kobe Bryant speaks out about tragedy

Matt and Christina Mauser, whose three kids are ages 11, 9 and 3, were both teachers working at a small private school that Bryant's daughters attended. Mauser said he was the basketball coach and his wife was the assistant coach when Bryant noticed "what an amazing mind" Christina Mauser had for the game and invited her to join his coaching team.
"He quickly realized that my wife who was the assistant coach was a much better coach than I was, and he brought her on and changed our lives," Mauser later told NBC News. "She loved every minute of it."

 

[Seattle1]

https://nypost.com/2020/01/26/kobe-bryant-headed-to-mamba-sports-academy-when-he-crashed-reports/

Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter were on their way to the legendary NBA player’s Mamba Sports Academy in California on Sunday morning when their helicopter crashed, reports said.

The retired Los Angeles Lakers star — who gave himself the nickname “Black Mamba” — co-founded the training facility for professional and amateur athletes in Thousand Oaks in 2018.

Bryant, 41, and his teen daughter Gianna Bryant were on their way to a basketball game there when the chopper they were in crashed around 10 a.m. local time in the hills above Calabasas, ESPN reported.

Another player and parent on board the chopper were also killed, according to the outlet. As many as nine are feared dead.

Gianna was expected to play in the game, part of a tournament in the Mamba Cup Series, with Bryant acting as coach, Lady Mavericks team director Evelyn Morales, told CNN.

 

[Cryptic]

The luxury aircraft was being flown by Ara Zobayan, who, according to records was an instrument-rated pilot — meaning he was qualified to fly in fog.

Even with the proper training, flying in fog via instruments in the Los Angeles area could be far more difficult than flying in similar conditions over say, the high plains of Amarillo.

The Los Angeles contains a large number of small mountain / hill ranges that don't always follow a readily recognizable pattern (well, to a non geologist). Then factor in that the dense network of highways can make orientation from the air using highways more difficult as well.

In the end, it may not take much of an error in instruments or ground references to move from a basin / valley into a sudden range of hills / mountains. Likewise, even if the pilot is aware of the approaching hills, a mis-judgement as to what range of hills are actually approaching could lead to selecting an altitude too low to traverse them.

 

[Seattle1]

Kobe Bryant's final interview a window into what was coming next

Jan 27, 2020

 

[Seattle1]

Kobe Bryant Opened Up About Mortality in 2016 Interview: 'Can't Have Life Without Death'

A little more than three years before his tragic passing, Kobe Bryant shared the straightforward way he thinks about life and death.

In a resurfaced video interview with The Ringer from November 2016, Bryant, then 38, shared his views on death and what happens afterward. At the time, the former NBA star said he had reached a calm way of viewing death.

“It’s a comfortable one,” he said. “It’s an understanding that you can’t have life without death, can’t have light without the dark, right? So it’s an acceptance of that.”

[..]

At the end of the three-year-old interview, Bryant is asked what he thinks happens in the afterlife.


“I don’t know — but I’ll know when I die,” he said, adding, “To me, it’s that simple: ‘I don’t know, we’ll see.'”

[..]

In another resurfaced interview — a December 2018 conversation with Alex Rodriguez — Bryant explained why he began to opt for private helicopters as his go-to form of transportation.

“Traffic started getting really, really bad,” Bryant said at the time. “And I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play because I was sitting in traffic. … I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time.”

He continued, “So that’s when I looked into helicopters, to be able to get down and back in 15 minutes, and that’s when it started.”

 

[Seattle1]

This certainly explains how the death count went from 5 to 9 by day end.

TMZ scolded by police for breaking news of Kobe Bryant's death before family could be notified

Jan 27, 2020

Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles have criticized the celebrity news outlet TMZ for being the first to report of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter on Sunday, before police were able to notify his family of the tragedy.

According to CNN, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva knocked the news outlet at a press conference while explaining why officials didn’t release the identities of the nine people killed in the crash earlier in the day.

"It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one ... perished and you learn about it from TMZ," he said. "That is just wholly inappropriate."

Los Angeles County Undersheriff Tim Murakami ‏said later on Sunday that he was also “saddened that I was gathering facts as a media outlet reported that Kobe had passed.”

“I understand getting the scoop but please allow us time to make personal notifications to their loved ones. It’s very cold to hear of the loss via media,” he tweeted. “Breaks my heart.”

[[..]

TMZ did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

The Hollywood Reporter editorial director Matthew Belloni told CNN that when it comes to the deaths of high-profile people, TMZ has an "in" with "the kinds of people who know this information.”

"If TMZ reports that a celebrity has died in Los Angeles County, it is almost always correct. For whatever reason, and you can read into this, their accuracy rate in Los Angeles is very, very good,” he said.