‘Twilight’ Pilot Expressed Concern for 2 Child Actors, Witness Says

The helicopter pilot in the “Twilight Zone” movie accident expressed concern for two child actors moments before filming began on the fiery battle scene in which they were killed, a witness testified Monday.

Randall Robinson, a first assistant cameraman who was also aboard the helicopter, said that just before taking off, he asked the pilot, Dorcey Wingo, whether he was worried about flying his craft through the special-effects explosions.

Wingo replied that “he was more concerned about the kids underneath the helicopter,” Robinson said.

Wingo, film director John Landis and three associates are on trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 1982 deaths of the children, Renee Chen, 6, and Myca Dinh Lee, 7, and actor Vic Morrow, 53, who were struck when the helicopter spun out of control after it was hit by the explosions.

In his daylong testimony, Robinson noted that Wingo had cursed in anger when the pilot’s face had been burned from special-effects explosions during an earlier filming sequence the same night. When Landis was made aware of the problem, Robinson said, he jokingly remarked, “That’s just a warm-up for what’s coming.”

Robinson described the doomed scene as “like flying through hell,” but Superior Court Judge Roger W. Boren told jurors to disregard the statement.

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino said Robinson was a key witness because he demonstrated that Wingo had partaken in the filming despite his concerns about the children. The pilot, she speculated, may have been intimidated by Landis, who, according to Robinson, frequently yelled and screamed at employees on the set.

Wingo’s attorney, Eugene L. Trope, told reporters that Wingo will eventually testify that he had not believed that the filming would prove unsafe. Rather, “he was concerned about the children being kept up late” and the trauma they might suffer participating in a mock Vietnam battle scene, Trope said.

Robinson was the 58th prosecution witness in the 4-month-old trial, which resumed Monday after a two-week holiday hiatus. D’Agostino said she hopes to rest her case by month’s end, at which time the defense would begin calling witnesses.