Family Of Student Pilot Fatally Injured Sues Movie Producers, Pilot, Others

The family of Carlos Berl, a student pilot who was aboard an Aerostar that went down in the Andes Mountains in Medellin, Colombia during the filming of the film "American Made" (formerly titled Mena) has sued Image Entertainment, the estate of Hollywood pilot Alan Purwin, pilot Jimmy Lee Garland, and others for wrongful death in L.A. Superior Court.

Both were fatally injured when the Aerostar went down in foggy conditions during the filming of the movie. Garland had been the pilot in command of the Aerostar, and was seriously injured but survived the accident.

Deadline Hollywood reports that the suit claims that the defendants “so negligently, unlawfully and carelessly supervised, prepared, instructed, operated, entrusted, piloted, flew, controlled, and directed the Subject Aircraft so as to cause and/or allow it to collide with terrain, grievously injuring Plaintiff's decedent, Carlos Berl, who perished as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash.”

Specific damages were not listed in the 13-page complaint.

In April, Purwin's estate sued the movie producers and others claiming they failed to ensure that Berl was "competent, qualified, rested and sufficiently informed for the flight.”

(Image from file, not accident airplane)

FMI: www.lacourt.org