Sounds like they hit someting! - Kobe Bryant

Here is some new audio released this morning from doorbell cams in the area. There are two video clips with audio.

If you listen carefully it sounds like the helicopter hits something right before it seems to make a sharp turn (or possible sharp climb) (you hear the rotors really whomping the air. About 16-17 seconds later you hear the crash in the distance. The same sound occurs in both clips at the same duration before the final impact. Sounds to me like they may have hit something (a tree maybe?) and then climbed or turned sharply.

Twitter feed with video clips

Take a listen and see what you think. You can definitely hear the helicopter taking some sort of evasive action.

Could have hit a bird, or maybe there was just something that seized up causing something to break or something. Mechanical malfunctions do happen occasionally on everything.

They want to blame the pilot, they need to examine the wreckage with an open mind and go to the area where the sound happened and look for evidence there. It could have been something that fell off of an overhead jet, or even a small meteor or something. Maybe a bullet from someone shooting somewhere at a squirrel.

I doubt if there would have been a drone out on a foggy day like that, but then again, some people are a little crazy with those things.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Look, if you can hear that, that is big news.
My phone is playing up the piece of 💩🌝

The more I listen to this it sounds like they may have struck two things. You hear the first strike and then a second, more minor one, right after it...then you hear the helicopter pitch up / over and about 12 seconds later you hear the main impact in the distance.

This is consistent with all the other reports which say they climbed immediately before crashing. If they impacted something like a tree, it seems pretty plausible the pilot would have attempted to climb to put some distance between the helicopter and the ground until he could do a damage assessment.

The crash site is ~1,000+ feet ASL, but it's in a valley. So, it stands to reason the hills surrounding the crash site are higher than 1,000 feet. Let's say 1,500 (just for discussion purposes). This would mean they only climbed several hundred feet to get to ~2,000 feet which is being reported.

The steep diving turn might indicate a possible tail rotor issue. A tree strike with the tail rotor maybe?

a reply to: rickymouse

Well, a mechanical failure is not out of the question. Something definitely happened right before you hear the heavy rotor wash. Sounds like a "whack", but it could be a "snap" of something breaking too.

How much you want to bet they find pieces of the debris quite a ways from the final crash site in the coming hours/days?

Would something like a drone be stout enough to ruin a tail rotor? Or possibly trans mount stress/ driveshaft failure?

From what I've seen, it was heavy fog, and they had a special exemption for vfr flight rules. Seems odd to me that the chopper didn't have ifr equipment and pilot whose ifr licensed.

The whole situation is wierd to me.

originally posted by: DiddyC
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Look, if you can hear that, that is big news.
My phone is playing up the piece of 💩🌝

" my phone is playing up the piece of poop"? Is that some teenage internet lingo? Could you translate that for us?

a reply to: Notoneofyou

The helicopter was IFR equipped and the pilot was IFR certified. They were flying under VFR rules allegedly because under IFR in this area can create significant delays with aircraft being put in holding patterns (allegedly for up to an hour or longer).

What the helicopter was not equipped with was a terrain avoidance system (sometimes referred to TWAS). I'm not sure how useful this system would have been in this circumstance because of the low altitude they were flying at. The system likely would have been in alarm the whole time and consequently turned off.

ETA - Regarding drones - A small drone probably wouldn't do a lot of damage if unless it was ingested into an engine. That said, in the general LA area there are all sorts of larger commercial drones operating in the area also (media companies, etc.). A drone the size of a DJI phantom type drone could probably do quite a bit of damage depending on where it struck the helo.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Quick-stop the tape! don't just stand there Dr Zaphod, operate!!!

Zaphod would be the one to ask about aeronautics, as for my novice opinion, choppers don't just fall from the sky under their own volition, there must've been some kind of external influence, however there could be many explanations from a migrating flock of birds to unexpected turbulence,engine failure, inclement weather, or because aliens. Investigations takes time, it's like when Milhouse goes into the spelling bee and tries to spell choke and he says "oh that's easy...M!!!"

A nation is mourning a basketball legend and his daughter, and other passengers, lets not turn this into Watergate.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

So we should all just stop talking about anything related to aviation until Zaphod shows up??

Is this what you are saying?

Zaphod is very knowledgeable about aviation, but he's not the only one who works in the industry on ATS.

Ok. I didn't hear an impact. What I did hear was a sudden change in the rotor pitch, as if the pilot was pulling hard on the collective. That is the "slapping" sound that you hear.

a reply to: JIMC5499

I heard the impact. However, it’s very faint from what you’d expect. Especially considering it went up in flames. You’d think you would hear an explosion. But all you hear is a slight crunch sound.

a reply to: JIMC5499

It occurs right after the rotor pitch change starts. Sounds like a slight "whack". It's not like a major boom or anything. At first I thought nothing of it, but then when I listened to the second video and heard something similar at about the exact same time, that's when I thought it was notable.

It may be nothing, but it sounds like something is there.

Sounds like maybe the pilot sees something appear out of the fog and pulls up sharply, but maybe strikes something in the process.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

i'm leaning towards mechanical failure, many witness reports saying they heard sputtering and then a boom. what's on the door bell is the boom.

“It was very foggy so we couldn’t see anything,” he told AP news. “But then we heard some sputtering, and then a boom.” The fog cleared a bit, and Storm could see smoke rising from the hillside in front of his home.

Kobe Bryant helicopter crash witness heard ‘sputter’ before aircraft came down

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

We can’t rule out the pilot having a stroke or heart attack either.

Maybe he did and the sound of the chopper elevating was Kobe trying to take control of the craft.

Anything is possible. I have the feeling that we may never know on this one.

a reply to: KKLOCO

possible but, here is another where the witness said he heard a grinding sound.

Eyal Smener was on the phone in his living room when he heard a loud whirring sound. He thought it might be a helicopter flying much lower than usual up in the hills behind his home in Calabasas, but he did not hang up the phone to investigate. The noise he heard next is one he will not soon forget. “It was this weird, loud grinding sound,” he said. “And then nothing. Just nothing.”

How Southern California grieved the day Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

Not ruling anything out. However, turbine engines don't really sputter, and you don't hear any sputtering in the linked videos either. You hear turbine whine right up to impact, and this is what I would expect to hear. The helicopter crashed so fast (within seconds) that the turbines wouldn't have had time to spool down much.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

Not ruling anything out. However, turbine engines don't really sputter, and you don't hear any sputtering in the linked videos either. You hear turbine whine right up to impact, and this is what I would expect to hear. The helicopter crashed so fast (within seconds) that the turbines wouldn't have had time to spool down much.

a reply to: KKLOCO
I'm not saying that there wasn't an impact, just saying that I didn't hear it. I played around jets too much when I was a kid and have some hearing loss. I used to be a helicopter mechanic and crewman. I've spent a lot of time in and around them. When the tone of the blades changed, it didn't sound right. When I first saw pictures of the crash site, I said that it looked like the aircraft broke up some before impact. After listening to it again, I'm thinking boom strike. A boom strike is where an abrupt change in rotor pitch causes the main rotor to strike the aircraft's own fuselage.

Apparently, there is video footage. Maybe not of the crash, but of the chopper. The footage is not in this video. But the man that filmed it is. He states that they were flying so low over his house, it sounded and felt like 30 Harley Davidsons. He also states that the helicopter was flying below the fog and was clearly visible.