Lawsuits over crash of Helicopter working on a film contract

[SASless]

A very interesting article about the law suits that followed the crash of a Bell 206 after it hit overhead wires during a flight being performed to film a car chase scene in a movie.

The various lawsuits.....four in number....all have interesting reasoning behind them....let's see how all this plays out.






Jul 9, 2009

Widow of man killed in helicopter crash asks for $20 million


An attorney representing the woman whose husband was killed in a June 2006 helicopter crash during aerial filming for “The Final Season” asked a jury today to award her $20 million in damages stemming from the fatal mishap.

Kansas City lawyer Gary Robb made the damage award request to a Polk County jury during closing arguments in a multi-faceted civil trial focusing on events surrounding the crash that killed cameraman Roland Schlotzhauer, 50, of Lenexa, Kan., and seriously injured Hudson pilot Richard Green and movie co-producer Tony Wilson of Dallas Center.

Schlotzhauer’s widow, Kathryn, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against multiple defendants involved in making the movie about the 1991 Norway High School baseball championship won during the school’s last year of existence. Green, now 75, and Wilson, now 52, also are both plaintiffs and defendants in four civil actions being tried simultaneously in Polk County District Court.

The crash occurred on June 30, 2006, when the helicopter being flown by Green snagged on overhead power lines and went down in a cornfield along Highway 151 near Walford. The month-long trial seeks to resolve lawsuits and counter-suits involving Schlotzhauer’s widow, Green, Wilson, the movie’s corporate owners and Bristol Aerospace, a Canadian firm that makes a wire strike protection system for helicopters.

At issue in the trial is a contention that Bristol’s safety system mounted on Green’s Bell 206B helicopter failed to cut the wires because of cost-saving design changes that removed a serrated blade and shortened a cutter – factors that made the wire strike protection device ineffective and defective in preventing the crash.

Robb told jurors 90 percent of the fault is Bristol’s, 5 percent of the fault lies with Green and the rest spread to the movie and its production executives.
Bristol’s defense team refuted that claim, saying the crash resulted from pilot error and the angle of the falling copter rather than any fault associated with company’s safety blade.

Green’s attorneys countered that the pilot acted responsibly given the circumstances and he is being made a scapegoat for a tragedy caused in part by a lack of pre-flight planning and poor communication among the film’s production leadership team. Other attorneys argued that Green was the pilot in command who failed to do proper pre-flight preparations to understand the configuration of utility wires at the aerial filming location.

[parabellum]

Other attorneys argued that Green was the pilot in command who failed to do proper pre-flight preparations to understand the configuration of utility wires at the aerial filming location.


Hard but fair, my money goes on this argument and if the jury decides otherwise, as I expect they will, then I imagine the appeal court, with no jury, will reverse such a decision. I believe that wire cutters are a last resort, all other protective measures, specifically and primarily, pilot look-out, to have failed.

[Hedge36]

What will my beloved legal system come up with next?

Gentlemen, if you ever wonder why civil aviation is so painfully expensive in this country... here's your answer.

[mickjoebill]

They were shooting from a rear door.

One scenario when using a side mounted camera involves the aircraft crabbing to allow the camera a clear view ahead.
Note that FAA report says they were tracking parallel to a road so the nose of the aircraft could have been pointed in the direction of travel if the director wanted a side view of the car.

In any event this lawsuit raises the question of the effectiveness of wire cutters whilst the aircraft nose is at an angle to the track.

How many degrees off center can the nose be pointed before wire cutters don't work?


It has been stated that the main film unit was working a few miles away and the story goes that when the producer heard that the aircraft had crashed and before knowing if anyone had been injured, he announced to the crew that the movie had been 10 years in the planning and that they would like to finish the days shooting.:mad:



Mickjoebill

[Winnie]

How fast was the helicopter flying?

Being a Jet ranger, the cutters are only marginally effective on most anything anyways.

IMHO the blame lays only at one spot, the PIC and the lack of proper preparation prior to the shooting.

If the PIC had indeed done a proper recon of the site, both from the ground and then from the air, perhaps he would have known about the wires.

Suing Bristol because the wire cutters did not cut the wires... Like suing Sikorsky for making helicopters in the first place, just as pointless...

[Gordy]

Firstly, the cutters work at speeds of around 20 kts, (This is based on my sometimes "poor" memory---I have seen the demonstrations of the equipment at the HAI expo many times).

Secondly, were the using a Tyler mount or Wescam, and was it side or nose mounted? Too often the smaller production companies try to save money and go with the cheapest option. A nose mounted spacecam on an Astar would have gotten most shots I believe.

Did anyone catch that the pilot was in his MID SEVENTIES ! ! This may or may not have been a factor, however, based upon generalisations----I would have to say it was.

Much that I would like to see a different outcome--if you hit wires, there is no one else to blame but the pilot.

The movie industry in the US is pretty much a closed shop. There are a few people who make it almost impossible to break into the market. I have worked on some major motion pictures, however they bring in certain pilots for "filming" and certain actors will only fly with SAG pilots, leaving all the other work to "regular pilots". Some of them are really good...and others are NOT, and should retire and pass down the baton. (I guess I just blew any chance of getting a SAG card huh??).

[mickjoebill]

How fast was the helicopter flying?

According to the report the car was doing 50-60mph and they were tracking it.
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=CHI06FA173&rpt=fa


Mickjoebill

[FH1100 Pilot]

Coincidentally, some time ago a group of engineers came out recently to look at our 206B, which happens to be equipped with the same WSPS as the accident helicopter. Watching five engineers (some of whom were pilots) stand around trying to figure out what caused a particular crash was enlightening.

As it says in the NTSB report, the ship was flying level at about 50-60 mph when it hit the wire. According to the engineers, they know how high up the centerpost the wire hit. It did slide up the guide, but instead of going into the cutter, it "skipped" up and broke the upper guide vane clean off! This was what puzzled them - how could that happen? They left that day without coming to a consensus.

As a pilot who often lands at remote sites, it opened my eyes to the effectiveness of the wire-strike kit. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. It no longer gives me any peace of mind. Then again, having the cutter does not remove from me the responsibility of NOT HITTING WIRES.

Reportedly, the film company did not use one of the established aerial cinematography outfits, but contracted with a local ag-operator. The NTSB report even notes that he did not contact the FAA and get the required waiver.

[Ascend Charlie]

A friend had a similar situation with a Korean film crew a few years back. They wanted a tracking shot of a car on a road in a remote part of the country, so my friend drove to the site with the crew, who were all set up for the shot, and surveyed the area. Immediately he saw wires across the intended track, so he explained that the chosen site was no good, and they drove along the road a bit further and found a spot that had no wires and looked exactly the same as the first site.

The crew agreed to move the whole show up the road and started to pack up, and my friend drove back half an hour to where the chopper was, fired up, and flew to where the cars were now gathered. He lined up for the shot, the cars drove along the road, he positioned for the tracking shot, and flew through the original set of wires! The rotten crew had decided that they liked the original spot, and went back to it without telling the pilot. :{

Luckily there were no injuries other than bruises, but the machine was a write-off. He had WSPS but the wire passed over the top one and got the pitch change tubes.

[MightyGem]

He had WSPS but the wire passed over the top one and got the pitch change tubes.
It happens. I watched a 206 crash that had the same happen when it hit a single wire. Unfortunately the pilot died of his injuries.

[SASless]

The verdict is in......Pilot assessed 75% liability and producers 25%.




Associated Press - July 13, 2009 9:34 PM ET

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A jury has decided pilot error caused a helicopter crash that killed a cameraman and injured two others during a film shoot.

6 of the seven jurors determined Monday that pilot Richard Green was at fault for the June 2006 crash near the eastern Iowa town of Walford. The Polk County jury cleared Bristol Aerospace, a Canadian aircraft part-maker of any wrongdoing.

Roland Schlotzhauer of Lenexa, Kan., was killed when the helicopter hit a power line and crashed in a cornfield. Green and producer Tony Wilson were injured.

During the month-long trial, plaintiffs argued a windshield-mounted wire cutter designed to slice through power lines manufactured by Bristol Aerospace had been shortened and dulled to cut costs.

Jurors declared Green was 75% responsible for the crash, while two producers for "The Final Season" were 25% responsible.

[mickjoebill]

Lawyer's Press release.

$7.2 Million Jury Verdict For Death in Iowa Helicopter Crash (http://www.robbrobb.com/NewsPressDetail.aspx?Id=107)


Mickjoebill

[TukTuk BoomBoom]

Isnt 70 odd a bit old to be doing this sort of thing as a pilot?
OK you pas the medical but jeeze 70 yr grandads driving cars sounds like a bad idea, let alone helicopters. You cant fly as Captain in alot of offshore jobs after 60, must be something in that.
How would the reaction time be??
"Grandad youve had an engine failure...."
"What was that sonny??"

reminds me of that old joke about going out like grandpa, in his sleep. Not screaming like his passengers..

Hmmm maybe a bit close to home...

[topendtorque]

Filming, easily paralled if not well surpassed in danger by the mustering of wild horses -brumbies we call them- and equal in many respects to that trade by virtue of having to argue like hell to get paid after the event.

the backsides of our industry I reckon.

oh yes they promise all sorts of things, free copy of the film for the driver, name in credits etc. etc.

tourist work is much better, they pay before they get in.