Twilight Zone tragedy

Twilight Zone tragedy

A UH-1B similar to the accident helicopter
Accident summary
Date	July 23, 1982
Site	Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, United States
Passengers	5
Crew	1
Injuries (non-fatal)	6
Fatalities	3 (on ground)
Survivors	6
Aircraft type	Bell UH-1B Iroquois
Operator	Western Helicopters
Registration	N87701

The Twilight Zone tragedy occurred when a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter crashed on July 23, 1982 at Indian Dunes in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie. The crash killed three people on the ground: actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen; and injured the six passengers. The incident led to years of civil and criminal action, and was directly responsible for the introduction of new procedures and safety standards within the filmmaking industry.

Background

In the movie, Morrow's character (Bill Connor) is a white male bigot who travels back in time to suffer through various eras of persecution, such as Nazi-occupied Europe and the racial segregation of the American South during the mid-20th century. He then finds himself in the Vietnam War, where he decides to protect some Vietnamese children from American troops.^[1]

Director John Landis broke California's child labor laws by hiring two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, without the required permits.^[1] Landis and several other staff members were also responsible for a number of labor violations connected with other people involved in the accident, all of which came to light after the incident had occurred.^[2][3]

The accident

The helicopter was piloted by Vietnam veteran Dorcey Wingo.^[4][5] During the filming of a scene he stationed his helicopter 25 ft from the ground and, while hovering near a large mortar-effect, he turned the aircraft 180° to the left for the next camera shot.^[6] The effect was detonated while the helicopter's tail-rotor was still above it, causing it to fail and detach from the tail. The low-flying helicopter spun out of control and crashed on top of Morrow and the two children. All three were killed, with Morrow and one child being decapitated by the helicopter's rotor blade.^[2]

At the subsequent trial, the defense claimed that the explosions were detonated at the wrong time, "causing an unforeseeable accident." Randall Robinson, an assistant cameraman, testified that production manager Dan Allingham told Wingo "That's too much. Let's get out of here" when the explosions were detonated, but Landis shouted over the radio: "Get lower, lower. Get over." Robinson said that Wingo tried to leave the area but "we lost our control and regained it and then I could feel something let go and we began spinning around in circles."^[7] Stephen Lydecker, also a camera operator, testified that Landis had earlier "shrugged off" warnings about the stunt with the comment "We may lose the helicopter." While Lydecker acknowledged that Landis may have been joking when he made the remark, he said: "I learned not to take anything the man said as a joke. It was his attitude. He didn't have time for suggestions from anybody."^[8]

Investigation

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had only recently instigated regulations, in March that year, to define how aircraft were to be regulated during film and television productions; helicopters were not regulated though, as it only covered fixed-wing aircraft. As a result of this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the terms be extended to apply to all types of aircraft.^[9] The NTSB conclusion recommended that the FAA should: "Extend the terms of FAA Order 8440.5A Section 5, Waiver of Section 91.79(a) and (c), Motion Picture and Television Flight Operations Manual, to require an FAA-approved flight operations manual for all types of aircraft."

Aftermath

The families of the victims filed lawsuits.^[10] It was the first time in the history of Hollywood that a director was charged due to a fatality on a set.^[11][12] The trial was described as "long, controversial and bitterly divisive".^[11]

Morrow's family settled within a year;^[10] the other case ended in 1987 with a verdict of not guilty.^[13][14] The families nonetheless collected millions from several civil lawsuits.^[11]

Mark Locher, a spokesman for the Screen Actors Guild, said at the conclusion of the trial: "The entire ordeal has shaken the industry from top to bottom... with every actor concerned about their own safety [and] studio managements saying 'let's not take a risk.'"^[12] Warner Bros. set up dedicated safety committees to establish acceptable standards "for every aspect of filmmaking, from gunfire to fixed-wing aircraft to smoke and pyrotechnics."^[4][12] The standards are regularly issued as Safety Bulletins and published as the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) Safety Manual for Television & Feature Production. The IIPP manual, "a general outline of safe work practices to be used as a guideline for productions to provide a safe work environment", is distributed to all studio employees.^[4][15]

The Directors Guild of America's safety committee began publishing regular safety bulletins for its members and established a telephone hotline "to enable directors to get quick answers to safety questions."^[12][16] The guild also began to discipline its members for violations of its safety procedures on sets, which it had not done prior to the crash.^[12] The Screen Actors Guild introduced a 24-hour hotline and safety team for its members and "encouraged members to use the right of refusal guaranteed in contracts if they believe a scene is unsafe."^[17]

Following the incident, accidents during filming between 1982-1986 fell by 69.6%, although there were still 6 deaths on sets.^[12][17] Speaking in 1987, movie producer Saul David warned however: "I think ostensibly there will be more caution for a time. But, in effect, if they had the same shot to do again they would find a way to do it. If the audience says it wants more death-defying and terrible stunts, [the filmmakers] are going to give them more death-defying and terrifying stunts."^[17]

John Landis's career was not significantly affected by the incident, although the director said in 1996: "There was absolutely no good aspect about this whole story. The tragedy, which I think about every day, had an enormous impact on my career, from which it may possibly never recover."^[11][17][18]

Film director Steven Spielberg, who co-produced the film with Landis, broke off their friendship following the tragedy.^[5][19] Spielberg said that the crash had "made me grow up a little more" and left everyone who worked on the movie "sick to the center of our souls."^[20] With regard to how the crash had influenced people's attitudes towards safety he said:

No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn't safe, it's the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, 'Cut!'^[20]

References

Further reading

v t e ← 1981 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1982 (1982) 1983 →     Jan 13  Air Florida Flight 90 Jan 23  World Airways Flight 30 Feb 06  Korean Air Force C-123 accident Feb 09  Japan Airlines Flight 350 Mar 11  Widerøe Flight 933 Mar 20  Garuda Fokker F28 crash Mar 26  Aeropesca Colombia Flight 217 Apr 26  CAAC Flight 3303 Jun 06  British Army Gazelle friendly fire Jun 08  VASP Flight 168 Jun 12  TABA Fairchild FH-227 accident Jun 21  Air India Flight 403 Jun 24  British Airways Flight 9 Jun 28  Aeroflot Flight 8641 Jul 06  Aeroflot Flight 411 Jul 09  Pan Am Flight 759 Jul 23  Twilight Zone tragedy Aug 11  Pan Am Flight 830 Sep 01  Aerocondor DHC-4 Caribou accident Sep 13  Spantax Flight 995 Dec 09  Aeronor Flight 304 Dec 24  CAAC Flight 2311 Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics     Deadliest incident shown in Bold SmallCaps