LOS ANGELES -- Witnesses to the helicopter crash that killed actor Vic Morrow and two child actors reportedly claim director John Landis ignored a safety warning from his special effects man.
The Los Angeles Herald Examiner quoted today from 677 pages of transcripts of statements given to the National Transportation Safety Board on the July 23 accident, in which the actors were dismembered when the helicopter fell on them during filming of a battle scene forthe movie, 'The Twilight Zone.'
The documents show investigators received conflicting accounts on important factors in the crash, including whether or not an unexpectedly powerful explosive was used to simulate shell fire.
The NTSB determined two weeks after the crash that the chopper was forced down by debris from an explosion on the ground that knocked out the craft's tail rotor. But why that explosion was so powerful and why the helicopter flew directly into the path of the blast remained unanswered.
The NTSB investigators wanted to resolve the discrepancies in testimony by re-interviewing the special effects crew and recreating the fatal blast, but officials in Washington abruptly terminated the probe last week.
The transcripts provide a chilling picture of the scene along a river near Saugus, about 45 miles north of Los Angeles, when the helicopter plunged into a mock Vietnamese village about 2:30 a.m.
The chopper crashed just 10 feet in front of director John Landis, one of several people involved who have been hit with state citations and fines and slapped with civil suits stemming from the crash.
The transcripts quote crew members as saying Landis ordered the helicopter to fly lower than it had during rehearsal and directly into the path of the explosions.
They also contain allegations that alcohol, marijuana and cocaine were being used that night and a statement from a truck driver that producer Steven Spielberg was on the set. Warner Brothers has denied that Spielberg was present.
