The Tragic Real-Life History Of The ‘Airwolf’ Helicopter

The Big Picture

• Airwolf was a serious, action-packed 80s TV series, with an iconic theme song and thrilling helicopter scenes that kept viewers on the edge of their seats.
• Tragically, there were two fatal helicopter crashes associated with Airwolf, one during the filming of the show and another years later after the series ended.
• After the series concluded, the famous black Bell 222 helicopter from Airwolf was sold and used as a real-life rescue helicopter before a fatal crash in 1992.

Today’s television shows just can’t match the coolness of an ’80s action series. Four decades ago, nothing was more badass than a mustachioed Tom Selleck on the original Magnum P.I., Don Johnson in a white suit on Miami Vice, the chemistry between the A-Team, or the black leather jacket David Hasselhoff wore on Knight Rider.

It wasn’t enough, however, to have a cool star. An ’80s action TV series also needed a vehicle that was just as cool to match them. Thomas Magnum had that sweet red Ferrari, James Crockett had a white Ferrari, the A-Team had a GMC Vandura driven by B.A. Baracus (Mr. T), and Michael Knight had a jet-black Trans Am named K.I.T.T. that could talk. Throw in the likes of The Dukes of Hazzards‘ orange Dodge Charger and The Fall Guy‘s GMC Sierra, and you have an era where the hero’s transportation was just as popular as they were. Then there was Airwolf, which stepped things up by giving its protagonists a cool helicopter. It was so integral that the show was named after it! Sadly, after the show concluded, the helicopter, which found new life as a real-life hero, came to its own tragic end.

‘Airwolf’ Ran for Four Seasons Across CBS and USA

Airwolf was the brainchild of TV legend Donald P. Bellisario, who had previously created Magnum P.I. and would go on to create popular series such as Quantum Leap, JAG, and NCIS. Airwolf ran for three seasons on CBS (1984-86) and starred the handsome hero and Army, Captain Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent). At his side were Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine) and Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III (Alex Cord). The star of the show, though, was the helicopter code-named “Airwolf”. Airwolf was a supersonic stealth helicopter built by The Firm, a division of the CIA. After it’s stolen, it’s up to Hawke and company to get it back, since Hawke was the pilot of Airwolf.

The series was never as big as the other action shows of the 80s, but it stood out for being more serious, rather than your fun adventure of the week. It’s also remembered for having a bangin’ theme. Just as all the other shows mentioned earlier had an iconic musical introduction that viewers still remember today, Airwolf got fans pumped up from the beginning. The music was pure 80s testosterone, with shots of the helicopter coming out of the clouds and zooming through the air, accompanied by plenty of explosions. Before an episode even began, you were on the edge of your seat.

A Stuntman Died While Filming a Helicopter Scene on ‘Airwolf’

Sadly, there was not one, but two tragic crashes involving Airwolf, taking the lives of those on board. The first occurred in 1985, during the filming of the series. In this incident, a 22-year-old stuntperson named Reid Rondell was flying a Bell 205 helicopter during a chase scene with another helicopter. The two choppers were just 200 feet off the ground, flying through a canyon, when one crashed, killing Rondell. The pilot of the aircraft, Scott Maher, survived.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the Bell 205 helicopter “is a civilian version of the ‘Huey’ choppers used in the Vietnam War. The show’s featured helicopter is a twin-engined Bell 222 that has been heavily modified to carry make-believe guns and rocket pods.” It had already made two passes through the canyon when the crash occurred. This wasn’t any lesser scene either, as Reid Rondell was the stunt double for star Jan-Michael Vincent.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first helicopter tragedy to occur in one of Bellisario’s shows. A few years before, in 1980, there had also been a fatal helicopter accident on the set of Magnum P.I., which resulted in the widow of the man killed, a camera technician named Robert Vanderkar, being awarded $610,000 in a settlement.

The ‘Airwolf’ Helicopter Crashed Years After the Series Ended

Airwolf might have been a fun series, but it wasn’t bolstered by a big enough audience to keep going. After just three seasons, CBS canceled the series. It was brought back the next year for one more season on the USA Network with an almost entirely different cast. Barry Van Dyke was the main star now, but with the beloved cast gone, Airwolf limped to the end in what would be its last season.

There was only one Airwolf helicopter which was owned by JetCopters Incorporated out of Van Nuys, California. After the Airwolf TV series came to an end, the helicopter lost its black design and was painted white. All of its modifications were removed as well, and the chopper was sold to Hubschrauber-Sonder-Dienst, a helicopter charter company out of Germany. The sale took place in June 1987, just months after Airwolf came to an end. Fittingly, it became a real-life heroic craft as it was used as an actual rescue helicopter.

Then came a mercy mission on a fateful Saturday, June 6, 1992. The Airwolf was transporting a heavily burned young girl to a burn unit at Cologne University in Köln. Everything went fine, with the girl safely dropped off at the hospital. It was after this that tragedy struck. The pilot ran into bad weather on the way back, encountering heavy fog that reduced visibility to 100 feet. Lost in the fog, the helicopter crashed into a mountainside, instantly killing everyone on board, which included a pilot and two assistants. The Airwolf itself was ripped in half. Three days later, the Federal Air Transport Authority concluded that human error caused the crash.

For four seasons, that black Bell 222 helicopter thrilled fans during its make-believe missions on Airwolf. While TV fans will always remember it in this way, we shouldn’t forget its real-life heroics after the series conclusion, and the three lives lost after saving a little girl.

The first three seasons of Airwolf are available to stream on Tubi.

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