The pilot and his two passengers died as their chopper crashed on the filming location of a new reality series in California on Sunday, February 10.
- Feb 11, 2013
AceShowbiz - Three men, who were filming a new Discovery Channel reality series, were killed in a helicopter crash that took place at the Polsa Rosa Ranch in Acton, California on the early morning of Sunday, February 10. The crash site is a well-known location for filming TV shows and movies where a diver also died in September, drowning while prepping a tank for an underwater shooting scene for the Disney movie "The Lone Ranger".
Pending the notification of the next of kin, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office haven't released the identities of the victims. However, sources identified two of them as 59-year-old pilot David Gibbs, who was also the owner of the now-wrecked helicopter under the company Crossbow Helicopters, and 45-year-old passenger Darren Rydstrom, an experienced camera operator and cinematographer.
The two along with the still-unidentified second passenger, were shooting footage for the new show "Untitled Military Project", under Bongo, Inc., the company which was in-charge of filming the show and obtained the permit to use a helicopter.
The three were reportedly thrown off from the Jet Ranger helicopter they were on it when it crashed at 3:42 A.M. The incident was the worst film set accident in California since actor Vic Morrow and two other child co-actors died when a helicopter crashed into them during the filming of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" back in 1982.
"Untitled Military Project" is produced by Eyeworks USA, best-known for "The Biggest Loser" series. They got the clearance to film a helicopter landing and takeoff at the site from FilmL.A., which issued the permit but did not have a monitor on the set, although an advisor from the L.A. Fire Department was there on stand-by.
