A Piper Aerostar being used in the filming of a Tom Cruise movie in Colombia crashed Friday, killing a well-known Hollywood aerial helicopter stunt specialist. Alan Purwin, who has worked on dozens of high-profile movies, was a passenger in the Aerostar. Cruise was not aboard the aircraft, which crashed in bad weather while on its way to Medellin Airport. The pilot, Jimmy Lee Garland, was seriously injured and Colombian Carlos Berl was also killed. Garland is a partner in S and S Aviation in Cherokee County near Atlanta. Details of the crash have not been released although the aircraft came down in a wooded area.
The movie is called Mena and Cruise plays drug-runner pilot Barry Seal, who was recruited by the CIA to try to capture the cocaine cartel leader Pablo Escobar. Seal was assassinated by members of Escobar’s cartel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1986.
