Victor Mildew wrote:Chocolate-Milk wrote:I had the bright idea of watching it just now. strawberry floating hell, that's grim.
I don't want to see it, but can you describe it? Is it really someone flying a helicopter inside?
On July 23, 1982, during the filming of Twilight Zone, actor Vic Morrow and child extras Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6) were killed in an accident involving an out-of-control helicopter. The three were caught under the aircraft when it crashed.[11] The National Transportation Safety Board reported in October 1984:
The probable cause of the accident was the detonation of debris-laden high temperature special effects explosions too near a low-flying helicopter leading to foreign object damage to one rotor blade and delamination due to heat to the other rotor blade, the separation of the helicopter's tail rotor assembly, and the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter. The proximity of the helicopter to the special effects explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications and coordination between the pilot, who was in command of the helicopter operation, and the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation.[12]
Landis and four other crew members were charged with involuntary manslaughter. The prosecutors attempted to show that Landis was reckless and had not told the parents and others of the children's proximity to explosives and helicopters and of limitations on their working hours.[11] He admitted that he had violated California law regulating the employment of children by using the children after hours, and conceded that that was "wrong", but still denied culpability.[11] Numerous members of the film crew testified that the director was warned but ignored the dangers. After a nine-month jury trial during 1986 and 1987, Landis, represented by criminal defense attorneys Harland Braun and James F. Neal, and the other crew members were acquitted of the charges.[13][14]
Landis was later reprimanded for circumventing California's child labor laws in hiring the two children. The incident resulted in stricter safety measures and enforcement of child labor laws in California.[13] The parents of the children sued, and eventually settled out of court with the studio for $2 million per family. Morrow's children, one of them being actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was 20 at the time, also settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
During an interview with journalist Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan, Landis said:
When you read about the accident, they say we were blowing up huts—which we weren't—and that debris hit the tail rotor of the helicopter—which it didn't. The FBI Crime Lab, who was working for the prosecution, finally figured out that the tail rotor delaminated, which is why the pilot lost control. The special effects man who made the mistake by setting off a fireball at the wrong time was never charged.[6]
Vic Morrow and one of the kids were decapitated.
