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The Awful Accident That Happened While Filming Tom Cruise’s ‘American Made’

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The Big Picture

• Tom Cruise's performance in American Made deserves praise, as he portrayed real-life pilot Barry Seal in a daring role.
• The tragic plane crash during the film's production resulted in two deaths and severe injuries to the surviving pilot.
• Lawsuits were filed by the families of the deceased pilots, alleging negligence on the part of the film's production and questioning safety measures.

Any movie fan not living under a rock is well aware of Tom Cruise 's affinity for aviation. Having attained a pilot's license in 1994, the 60-year-old actor has put his skills to jaw-dropping use in several films , most dangerously in the Mission: Impossible films and Top Gun: Maverick . While his role as Pete Mitchell in the latter film and its predecessor remain iconic portrayals of a pilot, his performance as a flying daredevil in another film – American Made – also deserves praise.

In 2017's American Made , Tom Cruise played real-life pilot Barry Seal , a man who would turn to drug smuggling in the 1980s. Featuring many aerial sequences and high-altitude stunts, many of which were performed by the actor himself, the film's production was beset by tragedy on September 11, 2015. Carrying three pilots working on the film, Carlos Berl , Jimmy Lee Garland , and Andrew Purwin , a twin-engine Aerostar 600 crashed while en route through the Colombian Andes . The accident resulted in two deaths and severe lifelong injuries sustained by the sole survivor. But how did such an accident happen? And who would answer to the grieving loved ones filing lawsuits with charges of negligence?

American Made

The story of Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s in a clandestine operation that would be exposed as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Who Were Pilots Carlos Berl, Jimmy Lee Garland, & Andrew Purwin?

Having grown up among aviators in Venezuela, Carlos Berl followed in his family's footsteps and became a pilot himself. Eventually relocating to Florida and New York, he amassed a variety of licenses over the years, and in 2015, caught wind of an upcoming Tom Cruise-starring film looking for experienced pilots. Won over by the opportunity, but with a constant eye toward safety, Berl voiced concerns after learning the production wanted him to fly the Aerostar 600, an aircraft with which he had no experience and was infamous among aviators for its involvement in "more than 260 deaths in 191 accidents around the world since 1969."

A native of Georgia, Jimmy Lee Garland had also never worked on a film. But as a pilot and mechanic running his own aviation company and teaching lessons, his knowledge and experience put him on Hollywood's radar. In addition to serving as Tom Cruise's double, Garland also taught the actor how to fly a Cessna 414, noting that his student "liked to participate in the stunts" and was "a very good pilot." The month before the crash, Garland was in Colombia putting his skills to use, racking up many hours in flight and enjoying the good life in the hotels and casinos of Medellín.

Unlike Berl and Garland, however, Andrew Purwin's aviation record was not without controversy. Particularly known in the industry for performing helicopter stunts, and having worked on high-profile films like Pirates of the Caribbean , Tropic Thunder , and Transformers , he'd cultivated a reputation among colleagues as a "dangerous" and risk-taking pilot. Purwin was also well-known to the Federal Aviation Administration, though perhaps not for the most reassuring reasons. In 1996, he crashed a helicopter that resulted in the death of a business partner, and would eventually be prohibited from flying fixed-wing aircraft in certain "weather and regulatory conditions." Purwin was involved in "dozens of incidents" over the years, and according to some in Hollywood's aviation circles, was even a member of the so-called "death pool," a group composed of pilots considered likely to lose their lives in a plane crash.

What Happened on the Set of 'American Made'?

As cameras were rolling on American Made in Colombia, Berl, Garland, and Purwin were tasked with flying the twin-engine Aerostar 600 from Santa Fe de Antioquia to Medellín after a long day of filming. Embarking on what should've been a 35-mile flight lasting just 20 minutes, the trio took off around 5:30 P.M., only moments after Tom Cruise had departed the set in a helicopter. According to initial reports, the Aerostar encountered bad weather and crashed near the village of La Clarita.

Upon discovering the wreckage , local civilians found all three pilots alive, though severely injured. But after summoning help and returning to the downed plane, Carlos Berl and Andrew Purwin had perished. The lone survivor, Jimmy Lee Garland, suffered "a shattered vertebra, collapsed lung, herniated diaphragm, 10 broken teeth, broken ribs, a broken jawbone, and a cracked skull on both sides of a dislodged eye socket." Waking up in a hospital nine days after the crash, Garland would later claim to have no memory of the flight, who was flying, or how the plane went down.

What Happened After the 'American Made' Set Accident?

Many questions were being asked after the tragedy in the Colombian mountains. How could three experienced pilots, each of whom had logged hours over the dramatic terrain of South American jungles and rainforests, end up crashing on a routine flight? What kinds of safety guidelines and industry regulations did the film's production have in place to avoid such an accident? What, if any, external factors may have contributed to what happened? And perhaps the most crucial question of all, who was flying the plane? With survivor Johnny Lee Garland unable to remember anything about the flight and its demise, it appears the question of who was flying the Aerostar will never be answered.

The loved ones of Carlos Berl and Andrew Purwin filed lawsuits, each citing negligence on the part of the film production and making claims regarding shortcuts taken at the expense of overall safety. Filed a year after his death, the suit on Berl's behalf alleged that American Made 's producers, as well as his fellow co-pilots, pressured him into piloting the notorious Aerostar that he'd not been trained to fly. Filed in April 2016, the lawsuit on Purwin's behalf made similar allegations against the film's producers and flight coordinators, claiming that Berl was flying the plane and his inexperience contributed to the crash. For their part, the producers filed a countersuit against Purwin, claiming that his aviation company, Heliblack, supplied the film production with a compromised plane and that the pilot had been dishonest about his qualifications.

The True Story Behind Tom Cruise’s ‘American Made’

Any notion that American Made is a “realistic” depiction of Seal’s life is entirely preposterous.

Regarding the events immediately preceding the flight, an anonymous source noted, "Apparently there was an argument about needing to leave immediately, even though they had some information about the weather that they should have stayed behind. I was just told there was intense pressure to get out as soon as possible." Another source, an experienced Colombian pilot, acknowledged, "I fly there regularly, and I would have stayed on the ground that day. You have to have experience to fly in Colombia. You cannot fly here like you fly in Miami, where there’s not a mountain anywhere. If you fly in South America, you have to be very trained in the conditions."

In April 2019, more than three years after the accident and a year-and-a-half after American Made hit theaters, the legal battles came to an end. According to Variety , the litigation was resolved in an undisclosed settlement between the plaintiffs and the film's producers . While it may never be known exactly why the Aerostar went down, or who was flying the plane in the first place, the tragedy behind the 2017 film shined a sobering light on the often contentious issues surrounding overall safety, the vetting of individuals, and regulatory processes as they relate to the logistics of film production.

Something Similar Happened on the 'Top Gun' Set

As tragic as it was, the accident associated with American Made wasn't the first of its kind while filming a movie starring Tom Cruise . Renowned pilot Art Scholl , 53 years old and known for his stunt work in Hollywood and air shows, was flying a Pitts Special biplane to capture footage for Top Gun in 1985. While in an inverted flat spin over the Pacific, Scholl suddenly radioed, "I've got a problem here." Moments later, he crashed into the ocean, and though debris was recovered, neither the full wreckage nor Scholl's body was ever found by authorities. Much like the events leading to the deaths on American Made 's production, a level of mystery and speculation will forever shroud the accident involving Scholl , only further confirming the inherent risks and danger that come with efforts to capture thrilling aerial feats on film.

'American Made' Has Seen a Resurgence in Popularity on Streaming Services

Six years after its release, American Made has made waves on streaming platforms , particularly Netflix, in which it held a position in the service's Top 10 Movies for weeks. There is no simple explanation for why a film or TV show from yesteryear sees a resurgence among viewers, but Tom Cruise's reassertion as a cinematic force in recent years is a likely factor. Between Mission: Impossible - Fallout and the unexpectedly massive box office performance of Top Gun: Maverick , the 61-year-old superstar is enjoying a well-deserved career renaissance after a period of lukewarm reception among audiences. American Made is one of Cruise's most breezy and watchable efforts in a forty-year career , balancing its real-life narrative basis with a playful sense of humor and irreverence for its subject and lead character. And, of course, its status as a true-crime film can't hurt as it streams on a service well-known as a haven for such non-fiction fare. Even so, understanding the tragic context surrounding the film's creation remains important and sobering.

American Made is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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Two Dead on a Tom Cruise Movie Shoot: A Plane Crash in Colombia, Lawsuits and a Survivor Speaks Out

Was a tragedy during the production of Cruise's 'American Made' preventable? Conflicting accounts and a pilot in a "death pool" raise questions about safety and the filmmakers' role in it all: "Hollywood cut corners."

By Scott Johnson

Scott Johnson

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The villagers saw lights flashing through thick clouds. Then they heard a sound like an explosion. When they stumbled upon the wreckage of a small plane close to a dairy finca near the village of La Clarita, in the Colombian province of Antioquia , there were three men inside, trapped in the fuselage and badly injured but alive. The plane’s tail had sheared off, and the cockpit was a mangled lump of glass and metal. The fuselage and wings were warped and bruised, covered by fallen branches, just a hundred yards below a ridgeline . The villagers ran to get help. When they returned with rescue workers, only one of the occupants was still breathing. He flashed them a thumbs-up sign and even talked. The other two had died.

Plenty of planes go down each year in the mountains and jungles of South America. This one, a twin-engine Piper Smith Aerostar 600, had been ferrying three pilots who were working on a film: Alan Purwin , 51, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after helicopter stunt operators; Carlos Berl , 58, a well-qualified airman who knew how to navigate the red tape of the plane import-export business; and Georgia native Jimmy Lee Garland, 55, who could fly and repair just about anything. The flight took off after a long day of filming for American Made , a Doug Liman feature starring Tom Cruise , 55, as a drug smuggler turned CIA pilot, which is set to be released by Universal Pictures on Sept. 29. Filming had been underway for weeks in the hills in northeast Colombia, near the border with Panama. But the filmmakers were based in Medellin, 35 miles to the southeast. This early-evening flight on Sept. 11, 2015, was supposed to be a short taxi ride home.

American Made depicts the intricacies of flying small airplanes in dangerous conditions, and so in a strange life-imitates-art moment, the crash highlighted one of the film’s central themes. The tragedy since has shifted to a wider set of questions about what happened and who is responsible. More broadly, the crash has raised new concerns about the adequacy of industry standards governing aerial work, including pilot safety. Berl and Purwin are dead, while Garland has been left without feeling across much of his lower body. The families of Purwin and Berl are suing producers Imagine Entertainment, Vendian Entertainment and Cross Creek Pictures for wrongful death and other damages, alleging that, in a rush to wrap up filming and save money, production and aviation companies ignored basic safety considerations. The families of both dead men also are suing each other, and Berl’s family is going after Garland, the survivor, alleging negligence.

To complicate matters, Great American Insurance, which initially indemnified the production companies, recently filed suit in a federal district court in California to disclaim responsibility and look for relief from having to pay under the $50 million general coverage policy, alleging that the flight in question, as well as other flights conducted during the course of production, may have been performed illegally. As each party scrambles to assign blame about what happened in Colombia, allegations suggest that the process to ensure pilots were properly trained and licensed may have been flawed. A judge has placed a gag order on the ongoing legal proceedings, and multiple attorneys representing different parties declined to speak to THR . But in court records, the litigants accuse the production companies and other parties of behaving “unlawfully and carelessly.”

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Meanwhile, interviews with those involved and an analysis of court and FAA documents have revealed other troubling developments. The Federal Aviation Administration frequently conducts “surveillance” of movie sets and pilots, which often amounts to routine pilot checks, equipment installations and protocol issues. But federal documents show that Purwin and one of his companies, Helinet , were on the FAA’s radar often. In 1996, Purwin was the pilot in command of a helicopter when it crashed, killing his fellow pilot and business partner. And Purwin had a broad restriction on his Airline Transport Pilot certificate that would have prevented him from piloting any fixed-wing aircraft in some of the weather and regulatory conditions encountered during the filming of American Made . Several pilots and safety experts with entertainment industry experience say Purwin was one of a handful of maverick Hollywood pilots known for taking unnecessary risks and being “dangerous.” Three people in the Hollywood flying community say in interviews that Purwin had been placed into what a group of pilots casually referred to as a “death pool,” a group of risk-taking pilots who were deemed to be the next ones most likely to perish in a crash.

What this means for the rash of lawsuits ramping up in court is unclear. Jeff Korek , a New York-based attorney representing the Berl family, argues his client’s suit is an attempt to hold the industry responsible for its poor safety standards. “The impact of the loss of their father and only real parent simply cannot be overstated,” says Korek . “We hope to put a dent in the pocketbook of the motion picture industry. We want the industry to understand and practice one concept, which the Berl family would expect to be put ahead of all other considerations in the making of a film, namely, safety before profits at all times.”

I n many ways, working on American Made was a pilot’s dream. Based on real events, the film is set in the 1980s drug-smuggling era, when Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar and others were funneling tons of drugs north via mules, boats and maneuverable twin-engine planes. The movie follows the true story of Barry Seal (Cruise), a drug runner recruited by the CIA to go after Escobar. The production called for plenty of flying in remote, dramatic landscapes over jungle canopies or a few feet off the ocean. And the pilots would get a chance to fly a plane that other pilots often view as racy and daring, the airborne equivalent of Formula One race cars. The Aerostar 600 was designed to be light, very fast and able to carry large payloads. But the plane had a poor safety record and, among many pilots, a reputation as a “widow-maker.”

Carlos Berl grew up in a family of pilots in Venezuela, where his parents had settled after fleeing Austria and the Nazis after World War II. The perils of piloting small planes in South America during the 1980s became evident when traffickers stole the Berls’ twin-engine Turbo Commander. The Berls bought another one, but the cartel returned and said they would take it if the family didn’t sell. Carlos, the second of the four brothers, eventually moved to Florida and later New York. He kept flying, racking up an array of licenses. The rules guiding airplane licenses and certificates are complex; pilots need different licenses to pilot various types of planes, and those certifications require maintenance, medical checks and frequent training. By 2015, he had a G-IV, one of the most difficult licenses to obtain, usually reserved for corporate jet pilots. That year, Javier Diaz, a family friend who lived not far from Berl’s home in Dobbs Ferry, New York, approached Berl with a proposition. A former investment banker, Diaz had parlayed his passion for flying into a gig as a helicopter pilot and ran a company in the area. Diaz told Berl he wanted help with some routine flying on the set of a movie starring Cruise about drug smuggling in South America.

Berl’s family says he placed a premium on safety, and FAA records appear to support that claim. Between 2008 and 2015, Berl voluntarily took 12 classes and seminars from the FAA’s Safety Team programs, where he received online training and attended in-person courses with certificated instructors. His younger brother Andres, who learned to fly at Carlos’ side, says his brother always used instrumentation meticulously and participated in annual factory training sessions. On paper at least, Berl seemed to be a pilot’s pilot.

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Still, Diaz’s offer initially didn’t excite him. He told his family he was worried about getting dragged into a contractual relationship that might hinder his life. But Diaz persisted. Berl had long experience bringing airplanes in and out of South America; he knew the regulations well; he spoke Spanish. Eventually, Berl agreed to help with some initial flight plans and with ferrying a plane from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Colombia. Eventually, he grew excited, says Jenny, Berl’s 24-year-old daughter. The first trip to South America went well. Berl stayed in swanky hotels, ate meals and snagged pictures with Cruise and flew home without incident. (The actor, through a spokesman, declined comment for this story.)

Then in September, Diaz called again. He told Berl that producers wanted Berl to return to Colombia for more work. Specifically, they needed someone to fly the Aerostar 600 home to Florida. Designed in the late 1960s, the plane was known among pilots as “the world’s fastest piston twin.” It was a sleek model prized for its speed, even if it sometimes came at the expense of safety. There have been more than 260 deaths involving the plane in 191 accidents around the world since 1969, according to the Aviation Safety Network. A 1998 review published by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association concluded Aerostars had “a clear-cut distinction as fast and alluring airplanes that will eat you alive at the maintenance shop or at the slightest hint of relaxed vigilance on the controls.”

In other words, piloting an Aerostar wasn’t for the uninitiated. “Pilots often call that plane the Death Star,” says Chris Palmer, a safety and risk assessment consultant who has worked on hundreds of Hollywood productions. “You had better be darn good in that craft if you’re going to fly it.” But Berl, an expert in so many planes, had never stepped foot in one. Andres Berl says his brother wasn’t interested in flying it without advanced training. He says Berl asked Diaz repeatedly whether he could get some training, but it never materialized. “It’s not like a car,” says Andres. “Unless you’ve flown it before, you need a certificate with a trained pilot who signs your logbook.”

As Berl waited for word in New York, he ordered the Aerostar manual with a map of the instrument panel and began to study. In the meantime, he asked Diaz to prepare paperwork to legally import the plane back from Colombia to the U.S. A few days later, Andres says Carlos discovered that Diaz hadn’t prepared that paperwork. Furious, Berl told his brother he would cancel the trip to Colombia. (Diaz declined repeated requests for an interview.) That night, Sept. 9, 2015, the two brothers parted ways at a train station in Westchester County. They agreed to see each other the next day. But a day later, Carlos was gone. “I guess Diaz convinced him,” says Andres, shrugging his shoulders during an interview. Later that day, Berl called daughter Jenny and told her he was going to be on set. “I told him to give me a call when he was done,” she says. It was the last time they spoke.

Like Berl, Jimmy Lee Garland didn’t have any experience with Hollywood. But he knew planes, and he knew how to fix them. Soft-spoken and polite, he had grown up in Georgia and spent most of his adult life there flying planes. He was pleasantly surprised when movie producers showed up one day at the Cherokee County Airport, where he ran S&S Aviation. Garland had licenses to fly many types of planes. He also taught aviation, and before he knew it, he and Cruise were soaring and floating in Garland’s Cessna 414, a twin-engine transport aircraft that would become one of two planes Cruise flies in American Made . Garland worked as Cruise’s double in the film. (FAA records show that Cruise first got a private pilot’s license in 1994 and obtained his commercial license in 1998.)During filming, Garland gave him lessons specific to the Cessna, sitting by his side while Cruise manipulated the controls. He noticed that Cruise “liked to participate in the stunts.” Eventually Cruise was doing all the flying himself, says Garland. “He’s a very good pilot.”

Toward the end of August, says Garland, the producers asked him to return to Colombia to fly the Cessna and help as a mechanic on that plane and the Aerostar. For the next few weeks, he flew all over the country, down to the edge of the Amazon jungle and along the borders of Peru and Brazil. He’d never done anything like it before, and it struck him as a “once-in-a-lifetime adventure.” By September, after long days of shooting in Santa Fe de Antioquia, Garland was commuting regularly back to Medellin, where he and a business partner stayed in a plush hotel. To kill time, they ate steak dinners and played blackjack at the local casino, where the dollar was worth 3,200 pesos. The flight back to Medellin on Sept. 11 was a routine part of that week’s work.

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Dawn in the farming region of Llano de Ovejas had been clear, and villagers had reported stars visible in the sky in the morning. After filming had wrapped for the day, the Aerostar took off around 5:30 p.m. and headed south. Without any radio contact or communication with air traffic controllers, it rose to 8,500 feet, following in the path of two helicopters that had left minutes earlier, one of which was ferrying Cruise home for the night. As the plane picked up speed, tracing lush mountainous ridges, a cloud bank was settling in on the summits that circle the valley where Medellin sits.

Garland blacked out when the plane crashed. Colombian media reports indicate that he spoke to his rescuers, but Garland claims not to recall any of it. He says his first memory is waking up in a hospital nine days later trying to rip a respirator out of his throat. The crash left him with a shattered vertebra, collapsed lung, herniated diaphragm, 10 broken teeth, broken ribs, a broken jawbone and a cracked skull on both sides of a dislodged eye socket. His body veered close to sepsis in the hospital, but he recovered. A small piece of steel keeps his skull together. He’s undergoing extensive physical therapy. “It took me about a month to gather my wits,” he says. Liman, 51, has stayed in touch, sending him articles about spinal injuries, emails and a Christmas card. (The director declined comment for this story.)

Berl’s lawsuit states unequivocally that Garland was piloting the plane when it crashed, with Berl as his co-pilot. But Garland, in two interviews, categorically denied piloting the craft that day. “I was there as a mechanic,” he insists. The Purwin family suit claims Purwin was along in a passenger seat to provide additional instruction, but Garland says he can’t recall, so it’s impossible to say with any certainty. Of the three men, Purwin was the only one with a Hollywood résumé. He had worked on blockbusters and tentpole franchises, including Tropic Thunder , Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers , along with about 100 other movie and TV productions. Early in his career, he had put together elaborate helicopter stunts for The A-Team and Airwolf . With his wife, Kathryn, Purwin had founded Helinet Aviation, and the company was a successful industry go-to for high-end aerial and camera work. He had donated a helicopter to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and he had worked with rescuers after Hurricane Katrina, providing medical transport to hospitals and patients free of charge.

But Purwin’s death has led to a quiet reckoning among pilots and safety experts who are closely examining his record. In 1996, during filming for a commercial directed by Michael Bay, Purwin was piloting a Bell/Tsirah Cobra helicopter when a rotor blade clipped a boulder, resulting in a crash that killed his fellow pilot and business partner Michael Tamburro. Tamburro’s wife, Tammy, sued Purwin and received a $7 million settlement. One aviation expert with decades of experience in Hollywood says that Purwin, whom he knew personally and professionally, was “frankly, a terrible pilot, and it was his incompetence that killed his partner.” In a recent interview, Tamburro’s widow declined comment on the 1996 crash and said Purwin was a “dear friend.” An FAA spokesman, Ian Gregor, said that an examination of Purwin’s records found mostly run-of-the-mill reviews and complaints. There were a few “actual problems,” says Gregor, but most of it was “routine.” FAA records show that some of these “actual problems” involved accidents and complaints from the public. The regulatory agency issued Purwin warnings after breaches in standard protocol. In 2010, the camera ball on Purwin’s helicopter broke when it struck an electrical power wire. In 2012, Purwin was cited for flying too close to the Malibu Pier. In that case, the FAA reported that “enforcement” began in January, and the next month Purwin received a “warning notice.” All told, dozens of incidents (which the FAA defines as potentially hazardous situations) go back several years. FAA authorities say that incidents on a pilot’s record are expunged after five years or less, which could explain why the FAA had no record of Purwin’s 1996 helicopter crash in its files.

Meanwhile, since the crash in Colombia, Purwin’s licensing has come under added scrutiny. According to publicly available FAA documents, he had what’s known as an Airline Transport Pilot license. It’s one of the highest ratings a pilot can get. However, FAA records show that Purwin’s ATP was specific to helicopters and did not apply to fixed-wing aircraft. Mark Nathan Boss, a designated pilot examiner who tested Purwin and issued him a commercial license, says Purwin’s ATP “doesn’t transfer to airplanes.” FAA records show that Purwin’s ATP license came with an officially noted limitation that read, “The carriage of passengers for hire on airplanes on cross-country flights in excess of 50 nautical miles or at night is prohibited.”

That particular clause may not be relevant to the crash in Colombia because flights and crashes in foreign countries are adjudicated by different agencies with different rules. But Purwin’s ATP limitation would have applied to any flight originating inside the U.S. On Aug. 19, 2015, three weeks before the Aerostar crashed in Colombia, a flight-tracking website shows that the same plane filed another flight plan. It originated in Clearwater, Florida — where Cruise maintains a personal home and the Church of Scientology has a major base of operations — and ended in Kingston, Jamaica. Berl was elsewhere on that date. Garland denies that he ever piloted an Aerostar from Florida to Jamaica. But that flight may be relevant to the litigants in the case, including Great American Insurance, because it originated on U.S. soil and appears to have been conducted during the production window of American Made . An FAA official says that the flight would have been illegal if Purwin was acting as the pilot-in-command because of the limitation on his ATP. Of course, Cruise could have been piloting the plane, but because the FAA does not keep records of past flight plans longer than 15 days, the full picture remains incomplete. But even if Cruise was properly licensed, there still could be a legal issue. FAA regulations state that any plane used for carrying passengers for hire must be listed on what’s called a 135 certificate, and several aviation experts who work regularly in Hollywood say that flights conducted during paid film projects often require that designation. An FAA official confirms that the company that owned the Aerostar did not possess that 135 certificate for fixed-wing planes. Answers to questions regarding who piloted the plane and whether it was properly certified may emerge during the ongoing litigation.

Great American initially indemnified the studios after the crash, to the tune of $50 million. But in May, in a rare reversal, the company filed a complaint in a federal district court against the producers, as well as Berl and Purwin, alleging that multiple flights conducted during the filming of American Made were “unlawful.” The policy stipulated that the choice of pilots for flights made during filming was to be “at the discretion” of Fred North, the film’s aerial flight coordinator. Great American argues that the plane may have been used for an “unlawful purpose,” though it doesn’t specify what that could be. It also points to the ambiguity about who was piloting the plane, or whether that person was “properly certificated, qualified and rated under the applicable law for the operation involved.” If, as the Purwin suit suggests, Berl was piloting the plane at the time of the crash, the insurance company claims the flight would have been unlawful because a passenger was in the aircraft without a properly certified flight instructor giving lessons.

The Berl family is alleging that the movie’s producers, Garland and Purwin hurried Berl onto the Aerostar in Santa Fe de Antioquia at the last minute before the flight took off for Medellin and then told him that the short flight south would be considered his training, even though Berl had requested extra training on the aircraft before agreeing to take the controls. The Berl suit says the terrain of the flight path that night was “unsuitably difficult for such an instructional flight, especially one conducted in a rushed and unscheduled manner in an aircraft with limited flight data and weather instrumentation.” In interviews, several people have alleged that the crew was “rushing” to get back to Medellin that night in order to keep ahead of delays that had plagued production. One aviation expert who agreed to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity says that FAA officials with direct knowledge of the crash later told him that a dispute of some sort took place just before the three men boarded the plane. “Apparently there was an argument about needing to leave immediately, even though they had some information about the weather that they should have stayed behind,” says this source. “But it was the jungle, and they wanted to get out of there. I was just told there was intense pressure to get out as soon as possible. That causes shortcuts.” And one lawyer familiar with the details of the case claimed that Cruise had been on the plane “just moments before” it took off. It was not possible to verify that claim. (Garland declined to comment.) The Berl lawsuit alleges that this apparent rush to save time and money “compromised safety.” Andres Berl is more blunt: “Hollywood cut corners.”

The Purwin suit echoes many of the same charges but makes the parallel accusation that as a passenger, he died because the men in the cockpit, including Berl, shouldn’t have been piloting the plane. All of which raises the question of what role North, the aerial coordinator for the movie, may have played. Through an attorney, North declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. The production companies also are keeping quiet for now, citing the judge’s gag order. One experienced Colombian pilot who is knowledgeable about the details of the Aerostar crash agreed to share his thoughts about the ill-fated trip on the condition of anonymity. “I fly there regularly, and I would have stayed on the ground that day,” he says. “You have to have experience to fly in Colombia. You cannot fly here like you fly in Miami, where there’s not a mountain anywhere. If you fly in South America, you have to be very trained in the conditions.” The Colombian authorities still are investigating the crash, and their report is expected soon.

Whatever final thoughts the three men shared in the cockpit that day likely never will be clear, unless Garland recovers his memory and decides to speak. From his years of flying in Venezuela, Berl would have recognized the sudden inclement weather patterns that could abruptly emerge. For years, Escobar had used these hills, the fog, the slipstream and the presence of multiple, identical small planes in the ether to great advantage in his rise as the continent’s most prolific drug trafficker. The moviemakers no doubt had wanted to capture that sense of elusive beauty, the thrill of flight, escape and maybe even freedom. It wasn’t yet 6 p.m. when the plane arced high, made an attempt to cross a ridgeline — and failed. The small craft dropped, smashed into a tree and began to splinter, carving a violent path through the fields on a steep hill, coming to rest, finally, in tatters on a terraced hillside, under a grove of chestnut trees. Eventually, Garland made it home alive. Purwin and Berl never did. The question now is whether it was a tragedy that could have been prevented.

This story first appeared in the July 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe .

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Tom Cruise's 'American Made' Costar Says Production Was 'Incredible About Safety' On Set of Plane Crash

American Made star Sarah Wright Olsen says production valued safety on the set of the Tom Cruise movie where a plane crash killed two stuntmen

American Made star Sarah Wright Olsen says production valued safety on the set of the Tom Cruise movie where a plane crash killed two stuntmen .

Although the actress had left the movie’s Colombian set by the time the fatal accident happened, Olsen says she had first-hand experience with how seriously production took safety into consideration. The movie, out Sept. 29, tells the story of Barry Seal, the real-life American pilot who smuggled drugs for Pablo Escobar and his cartel. Olsen plays Seal’s wife Lucy in the film.

“They were incredible about safety from everything that I saw,” Olsen, 33, tells PEOPLE. “I actually flew with Tom in the movie and he’s an incredible pilot. They also checked things a thousands times over before we ever got in there.”

Three stunt pilots hired for the movie were involved in a plane crash during filming when their twin-engine Piper Smith Aerostar 600 went down in the Colombian mountains in 2015. Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl died on the scene, while Jimmy Lee Garland was left without feeling in the lower half of his body.

“Obviously my condolences go out to the families, it was a heartbreaking tragedy,” Olsen says. “That was something that no one expected and it was a sad and horrible thing.”

The families of the two men who died following the crash now claim Cruise is partially to blame for the fatal accident .

According to new court documents provided to PEOPLE by The Blast , the estates of Purwin and Berl claim that Cruise and director Doug Liman’s desire to film a “high-risk, action-packed motion picture” contributed to the circumstances that led to the accident.

“The demands of filming in Colombia, together with Cruise’s and director Doug Liman’s enthusiasm for multiple takes of lavish flying sequences, added hours to every filming day and added days to the schedule,” state the documents.

WATCH: Tom Cruise Partially Blamed for Plane Crash That Killed Two People on Set of American Made

Purwin and Berl’s families are both suing the producers of the film — Imagine Entertainment, Vendian Entertainment and Cross Creek Pictures — for wrongful death and damages.

Although Cruise and Liman are not named defendants in the lawsuit, the families allege they were “negligent” in allowing the flight to take place under such circumstances. The families go on to argue that Cruise could have piloted the plane, calling him “a well-qualified pilot very familiar with the Aerostar and the routing.”

The families are also suing each other, with Berl’s family filing a suit against Garland, the only survivor.

Universal Pictures and Cruise had no comment on the matter. The original lawsuit was filed in April 2016.

American Made opens Sept. 29.

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American Made

• The story of Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s in a clandestine operation that would be exposed as the Iran-Contra Affair.
• Barry Seal was just an ordinary pilot who worked for TWA before he was recruited by the CIA in 1978. His work in South America eventually caught the eye of the Medellín Cartel, associated with Pablo Escobar, who needed a man with his skill set. Barry became a drug trafficker, gun smuggler and money launderer. Soon acquiring the title, 'The gringo that always delivers'. — Viir khubchandani
• In 1978, the skilled and ambitious TWA pilot Barry Seal smuggles Cuban cigars to increase his income. Out of the blue, he is contacted by the CIA agent Monty Schafer, who asks him to work for the CIA photographing facilities over Central America using a state-of-art small plane. Soon Barry contacts General Noriega as a courier for the CIA and is contacted by the Medellin Cartel that wants him to transport drugs to the USA. Then Schafer asks Barry to carry weapons for the Contras in Nicaragua. Barry invites pilots that are his friends and plots routes to smuggle drugs for the cartel. The CIA closes eyes to the scheme and Barry becomes richer and richer. He uses the Arkansas town Mena to launder his money. But the DEA and the FBI are tracking him down. When the CIA shuts down the scheme, Barry is left alone and arrested by the agencies. What will happen to his family and him? — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1978. Barry Seal, an airline pilot, is recruited by the CIA to fly special transport missions in Central America. Initially it is a matter of information-for-supplies but ultimately he ends up being a drug transporter for Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel and supplying anti-Communist groups, including the Nicaraguan Contras, with weapons. — grantss
• Knowing that he smuggles Cuban cigars into the United States as a profitable side hustle, CIA agent, Monty Schafer, recruits the daredevil TWA pilot, Barry Seal, to take aerial photographs of Sandinista bases in 1978. Before long, with Barry acting as a liaison, delivering money to General Manuel Noriega in exchange for information, Pablo Escobar 's infamous Medellín Cartel enters the picture, with its co-founders, Jorge Ochoa and Carlos Lehder, wanting to have a piece of the action. Now, Seal finds himself leading a peril-laden, cocaine-dusted triple life, and Schafer, as greedy as ever, keeps assigning increasingly dangerous tasks to his thrill-seeking go-getter, including flying guns to the Nicaraguan Contras, leading to the late 1980s Iran/Contra scandal, during the second term of the Ronald Reagan Administration. — Nick Riganas
• Set in the year 1978, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) works as a pilot for Trans World Airlines. He is married to Lucy (Sarah Wright) and has two children with her, with a third on the way. While at a bar one night, Barry is found by a man saying his name is Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson). He is familiar with Barry's work as a pilot, but Schafer offers him a chance to make better money by taking on reconnaissance missions for the CIA in a smaller plane with cameras just south of the border. Schafer convinces Barry that he would be working for the good guys, but it would have to be kept completely secret, even from his own family. He then lets Barry take the plane out for a ride. As he begins his new job, Barry starts making tapes documenting his travels and exploits. He flies over countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Schafer is so impressed with the photos that Barry brings back to him, that he assigns Barry a new task of being a bag man between the CIA and General Manuel Noriega (Alberto Ospino) in Panama. On his mission, Barry meets the Medellin Cartel - Jorge Ochoa (Alejandro Edda), Carlos Lehder (Fredy Yate Escobar), and Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Mejia). They want to get their drugs into the United States, but the runway for the planes is too risky for most pilots. Barry takes his plane for a ride and almost crashes into the trees but manages to pull up and continue his flight with ease and get back to the U.S. without getting in trouble. Barry now has the trust of the cartel. However, the DEA raid one of their compounds, and Barry is arrested. Schafer finds him in his cell and tells him that his house will get raided, and Lucy will most likely be brought in for questioning and be kept overnight. When Barry gets out, he goes home and urges Lucy and the kids to pack up their things so they can move. Despite Lucy's questioning, Barry insists he cannot tell her a thing, leading her to lose trust in him. The Seals move to Mena, AR. Barry is then given the assignment to move guns for the Contras, even being allowed to own his own airport and planes for the job. His first flight to meet with the Contras ends with them robbing his stuff instead of taking his guns. Barry calls Schafer to let him know that the Contras aren't interested in the guns. On his second trip, he meets with a cartel leader to negotiate sending the guns to the cartel instead. Barry brings guns to the cartel and ships their drugs to the U.S. and the Contras while trying his hardest to avoid being detected by the law. Barry gets four other men to help him on his trips when he realizes the workload is too much for one guy to pull off. They fly separate planes on their missions. Schafer then asks Barry to bring back some of the Contras to the U.S. for the CIA's newly-established training base. Upon arrival, however, some of the men run away. As Barry's business grows, he starts to contribute to the community and provide even more for his family while also shamelessly indulging in his wealth and setting up fronts to hide all the money. Eventually, the Seals are visited by Lucy's freeloading brother JB (Caleb Landry Jones), whom Barry is not fond of. When Lucy tells JB to get a job, Barry sets him up working at the airport. JB ends up taking some money that Barry was hiding in the hangar, using it to buy himself a new car and to pick up an underage girl. The DEA starts to go after the pilots. On one mission, Barry crash-lands and loses a significant portion of the drugs. Meanwhile, the cartel runs into trouble when Escobar declares war on the government, and the cartel gets kicked out of Colombia. Barry must meet with them to sort out the issues. At the same time, JB gets arrested by the sheriff after he is caught carrying a suitcase full of money. After bailing JB out, Barry drives him to a separate car so that he can leave and never return. JB curses Barry and drives away, only to be blown up by a car bomb. Barry gets rid of the car by dumping it in the woods. Barry and Schafer meet to discuss what's been going on. Schafer says the Contras left since they just weren't fighting. The CIA then starts to get rid of anything involving Barry. Barry attempts to move the stash of products out of the airport, but he is found by FBI, DEA, and other law enforcement agents, and he is arrested. Barry meets with a prosecutor, Dana Sibota (Jayma Mays), who is hellbent on getting Barry locked up. As he waits outside while she speaks to a lawyer on the phone, Barry tries to bribe the agents with caddies while also insisting he will walk away scot-free. Sibota comes out and confirms that Barry is free to go. Barry is given a task under Ronald Reagan's administration to gather dirt on the Sandinistas, all of whom are believed to be drug traffickers. They set up cameras in a plane for Barry to get photos as proof. Barry returns to meet with Ochoa and the rest of the Medellin Cartel. As he still has their trust, Barry engages in business with them, moving products into the plane where the photos are taken. The White House later releases the photos as propaganda, and Barry is seen in the photos. He is told that they were not supposed to be released to the public until after the cartel members were caught. The DEA go through Barry's house looking for evidence. Lucy takes the kids to Baton Rouge. Barry is convicted and is sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service. He moves from hotel to hotel each night. On one such night, he is approached in his car by hit-men sent by Escobar, and he is subsequently murdered. The final text states that "Schafer" got promoted after suggesting they get the Iranians to arm the Contras. One of Barry's guys went on to become a pastor in Alabama after he was set free. The rest of the pilots weren't seen after that. The CIA continued to use Barry's plane to arm the Contras until one of the planes was shot down over Nicaragua. The ensuing scandal was known as the Iran-Contra Affair. Lucy returned to Louisiana with the kids. The last thing we see is her working as a cashier at a coffee shop, still wearing a bracelet that Barry gave her.

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Tom Cruise Crash Lands in ‘American Made’ Trailer (Watch)

By Dave McNary

Dave McNary

Film Reporter

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Tom Cruise combines piloting skills and charm in the first trailer for Universal’s drug-running drama “ American Made ” as he crash lands a small plane full of cocaine in a suburban neighborhood.

After he gets out of the plane, covered in cocaine, he flashes the usual dazzling Cruise grin and begins handing out cash to youngsters and saying, “You never saw me.”

In the film, Cruise portrays 1980s pilot and hustler Barry Seal. “I was running drugs for the CIA, the DEA and Pablo Escobar,” he says in a voiceover.

The film made headlines two years ago when a plane carrying crew members crashed on the set in Colombia in September 2015 , killing two people and seriously injuring a third person. Local authorities believe that bad weather caused the twin-engine Aerostar to crash.

Cruise was in production on the movie at the time of the incident, but was not on the plane. Universal decided last August to change the title from “ Mena ” to “ American Made ,” and move it from Jan. 6, 2017, to Sept. 29, 2017.

“American Made” is the latest collaboration between Cruise and director Doug Liman , following their collaboration on “Edge of Tomorrow.” The crime thriller also features Domhnall Gleeson, Lola Kirke, Jesse Plemons, Jayma Mays, Sarah Wright Olsen and Caleb Landry Jones.

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Watch CBS News

Cause Of Deadly Plane Crash On Set Of Tom Cruise Movie Remains Mystery

September 12, 2015 / 10:24 PM PDT / KCAL News

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)   —  The cause of a deadly plane crash on a set of a Tom Cruise movie filming in Colombia Friday remains a mystery.

The plane crashed shortly after take off -- headed to Medellin. The film "Mena"  is about a pilot who worked for the dangerous and often deadly drug cartels in Medellin.

Alan Purwin, a movie and stunt pilot, was among the two people killed.

KCAL9's Cristy Fajardo reported on the story Saturday.

She said authorities in Colombia recommended to the film studios hire at least one local pilot familiar with the country's rugged terrain and mountainous region.

Cruise reportedly flew over the same dangerous mountain range just 10 minutes before the plane carrying Purwin went down.

It is not clear if the studio heeded that warning or if hiring a local pilot would have made a difference in the accident. Some believe bad weather played a factor in the crash.

Fajardo said that none of the three people on board was from Colombia. It was not clear who was at the controls. Purwin was killed along with a Venezuelan crew member named Carlos Berl. Jimmy Lee Garland ,another pilot, from Georgia, was badly hurt and is hospitalized.

On Saturday, some of Hollywood's biggest stars mourned Purwin's loss.

Helinet says Purwin has been flying since he was 16. The company called him a true pioneer and one of the greatest pilots.

His more than 140 credits include movies like "Transformers," "Anchorman 2" and "Taken 2" as well as the remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

Actor-director Ben Stiller, who re-made "Mitty," posted a picture on Saturday on Instagram. He wrote, "One of my favorite moments ever with Alan Purwin. Always felt safe with him. Sending love and prayers to his family. There was no one better at what he did. Respect."

Purwin also founded Helinet, the company at the controls of Sky2 and Sly9.

Purwin, a Calabasas resident, is survived by his wife and two children.

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