During Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert paid tribute to basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who was killed, along with seven others including his teenage daughter, in a helicopter crash over the weekend. Colbert feels a “strange connection” to the tragedy, “one that I wouldn’t wish on anybody,” as his father and two of his brothers also died in a plane crash when he was 10 years old.
“I feel a strange connection to his family and his friends and those who loved him and those who’ve gone through this particular tragedy. Because I lost my father and two of my brothers when I was a boy to a plane crash that was also in heavy fog,” he shared, adding, “One of the terrible things about that shock and the heartbreaking unreality, nightmare quality of some huge in your life who just disappears, the center of your love disappearing in that moment, is not knowing what happened.”
The Huffington Post has more on the crash that killed members of Colbert’s family:
The flight recorder from the 1974 crash that killed his family members revealed that the crew had been chatting about unrelated matters as the aircraft made its approach in fog, just before it crashed. Colbert said that discovery led to the sterile cockpit rule, which requires the crew to engage only in essential tasks to ensure safety at low altitudes, such as takeoff and landing.
Colbert also implored the National Transportation Safety Board to improve safety standards for helicopters. “I hope the NTSB will do something to improve the conditions for helicopter pilots and the information they can get if a tragedy like this happens,” he said. “Because these people are now in misery. Why compound their misery with mystery of what happened to their loved ones?” You can watch Colbert’s (rather lengthy) tribute below.
(Via Huffington Post)
