Many Filipinos have joined millions all over the world in mourning the death of basketball great Kobe Bryant.
The retired NBA star was traveling with his 13-year-old daughter to his youth basketball academy on January 26 when they and seven other people, including the pilot, perished in a helicopter crash.
Bryant visited the Philippines seven times over the years, and each time he was welcomed like a hero in a nation where basketball is the national sport and obsession, even if the average height of Filipinos is just 5’7”, which is perhaps why the 6’6” Bryant seemed larger than life.
The findings of investigations into the fatal crash have yet to be released, and it may take many months before the cause or causes of the accident is/are known but, so far, evidence points to inclement weather as a key factor.
When Bryant’s helicopter plunged and crashed against a steep hillside, it was flying in foggy weather considered dangerous enough that the Los Angeles Police Department grounded its own choppers that day.
In 1991, Bill Graham, an American rock music concert promoter, was killed when his helicopter crashed into a transmission tower in California—an accident that was eerily similar to Bryant’s. Graham’s pilot also struggled to fly in low visibility conditions. He was also warned of foggy weather, but was granted permission to fly under special visual flight rules.
In June last year, a helicopter crashed on the roof a 50-foot tower in midtown Manhattan in New York, killing the pilot, who was flying through rain and low clouds.
In July 2015, Archie King, the owner of the Victoria Court chain of motels, was killed in a helicopter crash near Mount Maculot in Batangas province, an accident that was also attributed to poor visibility because of bad weather.
Eight presidential aides, including Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia, were killed in a Holy Week helicopter crash in 2009, as they went on a short ride from Baguio City to inspect an area near the Banaue Rice Terraces that then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was about to visit. Bad weather was also blamed for the crash that killed everyone onboard.
Of course, bad weather flight is not impossible for helicopters. Indeed, these million-dollar machines have even been used in search and rescue missions in the worst weather imaginable (at least certain types of helicopters have).
But it is also true that bad weather is blamed for most fatal accidents involving helicopters. If there is anything to learn from these tragedies, then perhaps more safety measures or more stringent protocols have to be enacted by aviation authorities to make sure flying in less than ideal weather conditions are truly exceptions to the rule and not the norm.
Bryant’s pilot asked for and received permission from air-traffic controllers to proceed in the fog. In his last radio transmission before the helicopter went down, the pilot reported that he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer. There is speculation that the pilot got disoriented in the clouds, a common danger for pilots.
Perhaps helicopter pilots, at least on average transport missions, must not proceed or be made to proceed if the weather looks doubtful. There should be no pressure or anything compelling them to complete flights in unsuitable weather conditions.
Indeed, in several news reports, helicopter pilot Kurt Deetz, who flew Bryant dozens of times over a two-year period ending in 2017, stressed that he never remembered Bryant or his assistants pressing him to fly in bad weather.
Weather information relayed by tower controllers should also make it clear to pilots, whether they could negotiate their flights safely without incident.
The US government’s National Transportation Safety Board also recommends a terrain awareness and warning system, a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder for helicopters, features that Bryant’s helicopter reportedly did not have.
Of course, helicopter travel is expensive. It’s not a concern for most Filipinos who live below or just above the poverty line. But it is becoming quite popular for a lot of businessmen and tourists who do not want to waste precious time getting stuck in Metro Manila’s hellish traffic.
For safety considerations, the qualifications of pilots and maintenance practices of helicopters must be strictly checked by aviation authorities, and safety records must be improved by technology, better communication, and smarter procedures and safety protocols.
Accidents and crashes will happen, but let us learn valuable lessons when they do, make sure what went wrong won’t happen again, and save lives in the future.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano