The scene, which was filmed at night — and therefore a direct violation of child labor laws in the first place — called for Morrow’s character to carry his two children out of an abandoned village and flee across a river. At the same time, American soldiers were supposed to be “chasing” them in a hovering helicopter. An actual Vietnam veteran, Dorcey Wingo, was piloting the helicopter during the scene.
While hovering close to a large explosive effect, Wingo positioned the aircraft close to the ground and then turned it 180 degrees for the following shot. The special effect was detonated while the helicopter’s tail rotor was flying directly above it, and a metal lid from the explosion struck the rotor, causing the aircraft to spin out of control. At the ensuing trial, the defense claimed the special effect had been detonated prematurely.
The three actors on the ground could not escape the plummeting aircraft or its blades and were killed instantly. Chen was crushed to death by the right landing skid, and the helicopter’s still-spinning blades decapitated both Morrow and Le. The New York Times reported that the helicopter sequence was both “poorly planned” and “badly rehearsed.” Between 1986 and 1987, an investigation was conducted surrounding the events of the ill-fated scene, and five members of the crew — including Dorcey Wingo — were tried for manslaughter and later acquitted.
The strangest part of the entire situation? Nine years earlier, in 1973, Morrow insisted on having a life insurance policy while filming any scenes in which he had to ride in a helicopter. When asked why he was so hesitant towards this type of scene, it was reported that Morrow replied, “I have always had a premonition I was going to die in a helicopter crash!”
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