The widow of a photographer killed in a helicopter crash while filming "The Final Season" is suing actor Sean Astin, the movie’s producers and the pilot, among others.Kathryn Schlotzhauer alleges that the crash on June 30 in eastern Iowa could have been avoided if the crew scouted the scene and noted the power lines that brought the helicopter down.Her husband is 50-year-old Roland Schlotzhauer from of Lenexa, Kansas. He was filming a parade scene in the final days of the shoot when the helicopter crashed into a cornfield near Walford, killing the photographer and seriously injuring pilot Richard Green of Hudson and producer Tony Wilson of Dallas Center.Both survivors are named among 19 defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Polk County. The lawsuit also names Wilson’s special-effects business, and the power company that owns the power lines.Kathryn Schlotzhauer is seeking unspecified compensation for her husband’s death, as well as 50 thousand dollars in punitive damages.Astin’s spokesman David Lust says Astin is only being sued because he is the lead actor in the film. Lust says Astin had nothing to do with the accident.
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An experienced pilot should know to survey the area before shooting the scene. I am not cheaping her loss, but it is not their fault if the pilot did not check out the area.
