Both Pilots Faulted in Santa Paula Collision : Accident: Plane had right of way but both craft should have avoided each other, federal investigators say. Kirk Douglas is listed in fair condition.

Federal investigators at the scene of a midair collision that killed two men and injured three others, including actor Kirk Douglas, said Thursday that the accident was caused by the failure of the pilots of both aircraft to “see and avoid” each other.

But, while officials placed blame on both craft, they said the Pitts aerobatic stunt plane taking off from Santa Paula Airport had the right of way when it collided with the Bell JetRanger helicopter. The helicopter, which carried Douglas and Noel Blanc, the son of famed cartoon voice Mel Blanc, also was attempting to take off at the time of the crash, officials said.

“There were four co-pilots involved in the crash, four sets of eyes that failed to see and avoid,” said Thomas Wilcox, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Nonetheless, Wilcox added, “the first aircraft to take the runway, according to witnesses, was the Pitts. That means the Pitts had the right-of-way.”

Federal investigators spent the morning reconstructing Wednesday’s crash of the helicopter and the stunt plane at the tiny private airport in Santa Paula, a small farm community in northern Ventura County. Wilcox said the investigation will take a year to complete.

The two men aboard the airplane were killed instantly. They were Lee Manelski, 46, of Santa Paula, a well-known local flier and member of the U.S. aerobatic team, and his flight student, David Tomlinson, 18, of Thousand Oaks, a licensed pilot.

Douglas, who was aboard the helicopter, was listed in fair condition Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering head cuts and a possible broken rib.

Blanc, 52, who piloted the helicopter, was in stable condition in Santa Paula Memorial Hospital with chest injuries and a leg fracture. The third occupant of the helicopter, Beverly Hills Police Officer Michael Carra, was treated at Santa Paula Memorial for minor injuries and released.

FAA records show that Blanc had his commercial pilot’s license suspended for 30 days in 1985, after he was cited for three violations by the Federal Aviation Administration. The citations, officials said, involved operation of an aircraft too low to make a safe emergency landing, flying a helicopter at an altitude unsafe to people or property on the ground and careless or reckless operation of an aircraft.

Since then, records indicate, Blanc has flown without incident.

The crash took place about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday as the helicopter lifted off the helipad, Wilcox said.

Douglas’ son, Eric, blamed lack of a control tower at the airport for the accident. But aviation officials disagreed.

“Uncontrolled airports, in my opinion, depending on the amount of traffic, can be operated very safely,” said Nona Nakinson, operation manager of the county’s public Camarillo Airport.

Santa Paula Airport Director Roger Harvey said the airport’s safety record speaks for itself. “We’ve been operating since 1930 and we’ve had eight fatalities in 61 years,” he said. “More people are killed on Highway 126 from here to the I-5 freeway in a year.”

Manelski, a TWA pilot and ace aerobatic pilot, died just hours before he was scheduled to address an FAA meeting at Camarillo Airport on accident prevention.

“He was a pilot’s pilot and meticulous about everything he did, including safety,” said Roger Herren of Glendale, who had been flying alongside Manelski since 1978.

In an interview with The Times last year, Manelski said he spent about 25 days per month flying for the airlines, practicing his aerobatic routines or teaching aerobatics.

“I’ve given up a lot to do the circuit,” said Manelski. “But flying is like a fix--I have to have it.”

Tomlinson, a senior at Thousand Oaks High School, was “a bright, very clean-cut, very task-oriented individual who wanted to become a commercial airline pilot like his father,” said Chuck Severns, a school counselor.

“He’d be the perfect poster boy for Thousand Oaks High School. He had everything going for him,” Severns said.

After his flight with Manelski, Tomlinson was planning to help fix up a softball field in Moorpark as part of a job he held with the Moorpark Parks and Recreation Department. “Flying was his thing, that’s what he wanted to do,” said Deputy City Manager Richard Hare, who knew Tomlinson. “He wanted to go to the Air Force Academy to fly jets.”

Staff writers Vivian Louie and Carlos V. Lozano contributed to this story.