Court Hears Another View on Cause of ‘Twilight’ Accident

An aeronautical engineer for the firm that built the helicopter that crashed in the “Twilight Zone” film tragedy testified Tuesday that he does not believe the accident directly resulted from the heat of a special-effects explosion.

The testimony from the prosecution expert, Larry W. Dooley of Bell Helicopters, contradicted defense evidence that high temperatures caused the crash in a process known as “heat delamination.”

But Dooley acknowledged during defense cross-examination that he never performed any physical tests to support his conclusions. Dooley, who said his testimony was based on mathematical calculations, added that helicopters could not be marketed for use by pilots and passengers without such physical testing.

Defense Viewpoint

“Aren’t these five people just as important?” retorted defense attorney Arnold L. Klein, pointing to director John Landis, special-effects coordinator Paul Stewart and the three other defendants in the involuntary manslaughter trial.

Klein’s question was ruled out of order by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roger W. Boren.

The five defendants are accused of criminal negligence stemming from the 1982 accident, in which the plummeting helicopter struck actor Vic Morrow and two child actors after its tail rotor was engulfed in the fireball of a special-effects explosion.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino called Dooley to the stand to rebut recent testimony from defense expert witness Gary Fowler, a metallurgist, that the crash was caused by a process known as “heat delamination.”

Opinion of Cause

According to Fowler, the fireball caused part of the aircraft’s tail rotor to separate, resulting in the entire gear box falling off. The defense said the accident was thus unforeseeable since no previous instances in which helicopters have crashed due to similar circumstances have been recorded.

D’Agostino said Dooley’s testimony counteracted Fowler’s, although she also contends that the defendants were criminally negligent regardless of whether the precise cause of the accident was heat delamination or flying debris.

D’Agostino is expected to conclude her rebuttal case today, and closing arguments in the trial, which began last September, could begin Monday.

Judge Boren rejected a request from D’Agostino Tuesday that the jury travel to Long Beach to watch a helicopter, similar to the one that crashed, hover 24 feet above ground.