Kobe...

[sc_rufctr]

Just terrible... RIP

[speeder]

I just listened to the flight audio on TMZ...I can't believe that the copter could not just stay above the 101 freeway no matter how foggy...they were so close to it. I guess that some things we will never know.

[Baz]

[pmax]

Sad all around.

RIP

[Jeff Alton]

Sad that anyone loses their life like this. But, please remember, there were 9 people in total that died. Been in the industry for almost 30 years, sad when this happens. If you have seen the footage of the actual crash, you get how undescribaly terrible and horrific it would have been. They would have likely known they were going to die when they had the failure.

RIP ALL OF THE VICTIMS on board. Tragic, horrific and sad way to have one's life end.

Cheers

[rusnak]

I cried when I heard about it. I came here first, so that you guys could be the ones to give me the details. Still in complete shock and a bit pissed that could happen.

[WPOZZZ]

I don't understand why the pilot took off in weather like that. We had a very similar crash on Kauai at the end of the year. The area where the chopper crashed was fogged in an other tour companies did not take their choppers out.

[Crowbob]

I didn't know Kobe won an oscar in the animated short film category, 'Dear Basketball'. I haven't seen it. To announce his retirement from basketaball he wrote a letter (poem) about his relationship with basketball. Glen Keane from Disney hand drew a buncha pictures from Youtube highlights of Kobe's famous shots and no less than John Williams composed the music.

Apparently one of the sequences show Kobe moving laterally in the air shooting backwards. In an interview Kobe describes learning how to do it as a kid while riding his bike and throwing rocks at a telephone pole. He talks about the physicis of it.

He cheated, though. He knew what he wanted to do from age 5. Specifically. Not just be great but be the greatest. So that's cheating.

We normal people still don't know what we want to do when we grow up. I don't, at least.

No fair!

[billybek]

[TimBer]

[slow&rusty]

Devastating news...RIP.

[Arizona_928]

What a way to go

[craigster59]

It’s reported that the families found out through TMZ reporting. In these days of social media news comes fast and everyone wants to be first to break the story but finding out in that manner has to really be devastating.

[Baz]

Kobe Bryant: reporter suspended after sexual assault case tweet

The Washington Post has suspended a journalist after she tweeted about Kobe Bryant’s historical sexual assault case shortly after the basketball player and his daughter died in a helicopter crash.

Felicia Sonmez was put on leave after posting a link to an article about the 2003 rape allegation against the former LA Lakers player, with the newspaper saying her “poor judgment” in sharing the story had undermined the work of her colleagues.

It raises questions about how to deal with the media legacies of much-lauded individuals and which aspects of their lives to highlight in the immediate aftermath of their deaths.

Too soon?

[flipper35]

I will admit he was a good ball player. As a person, from the beginning of his career, lets just say he is not someone I would care to be in the same room with.

On top of flying when everyone else was grounding their helos.

[craigster59]

Three guys I work with are going to the Laker/ Clipper game tomorrow night. I’m sure there will be a huge presentation/ rememberance.

[stevej37]

Friends have identified the pilot as
Ara Zobayan. He taught aspiring heli pilots to fly and was very much loved in the aviation community.

[Scott Douglas]

I'm pretty sure the weather conditions down here in the OC where the flight originated were a lot different than what they encountered up the coast after flying by downtown LA like the flight path I've seen showed.

[flipper35]

Anyone that takes off VFR without checking the weather en-route. Nevermind.

[Baz]

Beloved Coaches, Rising Basketball Stars Also Killed When Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter Went Down