‘I’d Take My Copter and Go Home,’ Expert Witness Says

A veteran movie stunt pilot testified Wednesday that if he had been subjected to special-effects explosives similar to those detonated in the sequence preceding the fatal “Twilight Zone” crash, “I’d take my helicopter and go home.”

James Gavin, 53, who has worked on several hundred films, including “Blue Thunder” and “Uncommon Valor,” was called as an expert witness by the prosecution in the involuntary manslaughter trial of “Twilight Zone” director John Landis, helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo and three film-making associates.

The five are charged in the deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two child actors who were killed when a helicopter, struck by special-effects explosives, spun out of control and crashed upon them. Several witnesses have previously testified that the helicopter also suffered unexpected problems as a result of the intense heat of explosives ignited in a sequence shot three hours earlier.

Gavin, asked a series of hypothetical questions, replied emotionally when asked what he would do if explosives which he had not been made aware of were ignited near his craft, causing it to be buffeted.

“If there were special-effects explosions that were there that I was not made aware of,” Gavin said, “I would first do bodily harm to the effects people and whoever else was handy and then I’d take my helicopter and go home.”

Gavin also testified that it is an industry custom not to change the position of a helicopter once a scene is being filmed. Previous witnesses have testified that Landis ordered the helicopter “lower, lower,” as it flew into the ultimately fatal scene.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino, who called Gavin probably the foremost helicopter pilot in the film industry, said outside court that the testimony underscored the defendants’ negligence.

Defense attorney James Neal, meanwhile, said outside court that it was a “a day of utter irrelevancies,” since Gavin was speaking about hypothetical situations which do not necessarily directly parallel what occurred on the “Twilight Zone” set.

“He’s trying to be theatrical up there,” added defense attorney Harland Braun. “He’s been in too many movies.”