It Didn't Have To Happen

The Kobe Bryant crash never should have happened. I was watching the NTSB news conference today and they said the pilot requested a special clearance from air traffic controllers to continue to fly under visual flight rules in weather conditions that were so unsafe, the Calabasas Sheriff's Station grounded their own helicopters. The fog was extremely thick yesterday morning in that area, and the pilot had to circle for twelve minutes over Glendale, about forty miles away, before he received permission to continue. An air traffic spokesman said that, while such extreme weather flight clearances were not uncommon, "we don't recommend them". During the news conference, the spokeswoman mentioned the debris field was 500 feet wide. It seems like you'd have to be flying awfully fast to have such a spread out crash site.

I know it's a moot point to argue any of this, but I just can't understand why someone didn't say "hey, let's just turn back. We can go to the game next week". Wouldn't you say that, especially with kids on board? I know I would, but then I'm squeamish about flying in the first place.

I remember going down to Malibu once about twenty years ago. It was about the same time of year, maybe March at the latest. The late, great Mr. D was driving. My Dad and I were his passengers. Instead of taking the freeway to the beach, D decided he wanted to take an alternative route through Decker Canyon Road. If you Google it, as I just did, the first link that comes back is from www.dangerousroads.org. Decker Canyon is not far from the Las Virgenes Road location that was close to the Kobe crash site, and it is subject to the same extremely thick fog banks that likely caused Bryant's chopper to crash. On our way to Malibu that morning with Dave, we ran into such a patch of fog in the middle of this treacherous highway, with a 600 foot drop just feet away from the passenger side of his car. I kid you not when I say that you could not see more than ten feet in front of you. There was no way to turn around and go back, as you might go off the cliff, and you couldn't stop because you might get rear ended. Dave tried turning on his headlights but that just made it worse. They shone into the fog and reflected right back at us. I was white knuckling it big time, telling Dave to "go slow, man, go slow". If you read the above link, you'll see that Decker Canyon is full of hairpin turns. We could see just enough to follow the dashes marking the two skinny lanes, and somehow we managed to crawl our way through the remainder of Decker Canyon, through the fog and to the safety of Malibu beach.

But we very easily could've been a statistic like Kobe Bryant and Gianna, and the other seven folks on that helicopter. What I am saying is that Dave, God Rest His Soul, never should have taken Decker Canyon that morning. He knew that road, Dad and I did not, and he knew how dangerous it was even in clear visual conditions. I wouldn't drive it even if I could see for a hundred miles. And the same goes for Kobe's pilot and all of the adults on board that copter. They knew the weather was bad. They weren't on a dangerous road, so maybe they figured they could risk it, and maybe they'd flown in such conditions before, but it was only to go to a basketball game, and if just one person had said "I am not comfortable with this", they could've turned around and gone back to Orange County.

It's easy to say in hindsight, but no one should take unnecessary safety risks, of any kind. In the case of Kobe's helicopter it's all the sadder because it didn't have to happen and it should not have happened. That's all I wanted to say and I will stop now. But please folks, be careful out there.  ////

I am continuing to adjust to my new schedule and I'm still exhausted as a result. I haven't had a day off since Christmas. I did watch a movie, a Silent called "The Half Breed"(1916) starring Douglas Fairbanks, but I was nodding off in the middle, so I'll have to watch it again to give it a fair review.

Once I get accustomed to the haphazard schedules of all of these health care workers Pearl has been signed up for, I should be able to get back on an even keel. I myself would not have signed her up for this program, because I do not feel she needs it, but I am not in charge (even though I've been right so far about her recovery).

Elizabeth, your photograph on FB this morning, with accompanying poetry, made me very happy. Did you write those words? They're beautiful.

Thank you for uplifting my day.  :):)

That's all I have for the moment. I'll see you tomorrow as time permits.

Tons of love and more than you can imagine.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)