Hollywood Movie Pilot Killed in Plane Crash on Set of New Tom Cruise Film in Colombia
KTLA-5
By Kennedy Ryan
September 11, 2015
Two people were killed, including the Chairman of Los Angeles-based Helinet Aviation, when a plane being used by a crew filming a new Tom Cruise movie crashed in Colombia, the company confirmed to KTLA on Friday night.
Pilot Alan D. Purwin was one of the people killed, said Jack Snyder, an executive at Helinet Aviation, which owned the plane.
Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the crash and the two deaths. Another person was injured, the authority said.
The plane, described as a twin-engine Aerostar, went down in bad weather shortly after takeoff on a flight from Santa Fe de Antioquia to Medellin, according to the Associated Press.
The crew members had just wrapped up work on the new film "Mena," Universal Pictures said in a statement.
"On behalf of the production, our hearts and prayers go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time," the statement said.
Helinet's company website described Purwin as "one of the top film pilots of his generation."
Purwin has endowed Hollywood movies and TV series with sweeping areal footage as a pilot carrying camera teams since working on the production of "Airwolf" in 1984, according to his profile on the Internet Movie Database.
He also appeared in cameo roles as a pilot in many productions including "Jurassic World,""Zero Dark Thirty" and "Indecent Proposal."
PURWIN, Alan D. (Alan David Purwin)
Born: 1962, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Died: 9/11/2015, Santa Fe de Antioquia, Colombia
Alan D. Purwin’s western – helicopter pilot:
Wild Wild West - 1999