VALENCIA, Calif. -- A helicopter used in filming the TV series 'Airwolf' slammed into a hill while chasing another program helicopter Friday, killing a stuntman who doubled for star Jan-Michael Vincent and injuring the pilot.
Reid Rondell, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene in rugged Pico Canyon 35 miles north of Los Angeles.
The area, often used by Hollywood studios, is near the site where Vic Morrow, 53, and two child actors were killed in July 1982 when a helicopter crashed during filming of a Vietnam War scene for the 'Twilight Zone' movie.
Los Angeles County Fire spokesman Dick Sterling said the two helicopters were 'chasing each other through a canyon area when for some reason the second helicopter crashed into the side of a hill and disintegrated on impact.'
Crew members on the ground were able to pull pilot Scott Meher, 46, of Los Angeles, out of the wreckage before it burst into flames shortly before 11 a.m., Sterling said.
'They pulled out the first victim. They could not get to the second victim,' he said.
Sterling said the small fire was quickly extinguished and Rondell's body was recovered later. It was not known whether he died from the impact of the crash or the fire.
Meher was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital and was listed in fair condition with a concussion, some fractures and cuts, a nursing supervisor said.
Officials said Vincent and his co-star in the CBS series, Ernest Borgnine, were not aboard the helicopter that crashed and were not injured. It was not immediately revealed if they were at the scene.
A stuntman, who asked not to be identified, said Rondell had been a stuntman 'all his young life' and added, 'He was one of the very best in the business.'
Rondell belonged to Stunts Unlimited, an organization his father founded.
The helicopter, a Bell 205, was one of eight used for air sequences in the action-adventure series, but was not one of the show's three futuristic centerpiece choppers, said Ben Halpern, vice president for Universal Television.
Jeff Myers, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said crewmembers were filming an episode of the show in the area east of Valencia when the helicopter went down shortly behind a refinery.
'I was outside eating lunch and I saw the smoke,' said Armando Arroyo, a mailroom worker at Sun Oil. 'It was up there on the hill, and the smoke looked kind of yellow-orange.'
Inspectors from the National Transportation and Safety Board were investigating the crash.
'Airwolf' airs Saturdays at 8 p.m., and most of its interiors are filmed at MCA-Universal studios in Los Angeles.
In the adventure show, Vincent and Borgnine work for a CIA-like agency that uses high-technology equipment including specially-designed helicopters.
