Art Scholl, Top Gun (1986)
While, rather ironically, filming the "flat spin" that eventually kills the character Goose in Top Gun, stunt pilot Scholl's plane went into a very real flat spin from which the veteran airman could not recover. The movie was later dedicated to his memory.
Marc Akerstream, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (1998)
In one of the eeriest stunt deaths, Akerstream was struck on the head and killed by flying debris while overseeing a boat explosion on the set of the TV series spun off from the Crow movies. Of course, Brandon Lee, star of the original Crow movie, was killed during filming when a prop gun malfunctioned.
Conway Wickliffe, The Dark Knight (2008)
In another movie that seems oddly cursed, stunt technician Wickliffe was riding along in a camera truck when it struck a tree early during production of the Batman Begins sequel. A few months later, of course, star Heath Ledger would be found dead from what many believe was an accidental drug overdose.
Harry O'Connor, XXX (2002)
For the climax of this action film, Vin Diesel's Xander Cage rappels down a parasailing line and lands atop a submarine. Diesel's stunt double O'Connor successfully completed the stunt on the first take, but wasn't able to rappel down fast enough on the second take and struck a bridge at a high rate of speed. Footage from the successful first take is included in the final film.
Paul Mantz, The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
An ace air racer, Mantz was one of Hollywood's top stuntmen when he was hired to fly a plane made specially for The Flight of the Phoenix. During filming, his Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 aircraft grazed a hilltop, prompting Mantz to throttle up in recovery. The move taxed the plane, which broke in two and nose-dived, killing him. See the video.
A.J. Bakunas, Steel (1979)
Bakunas doubled for George Kennedy in this film about a construction foreman battling his fear of heights following an accident. The stuntman was suppose to land on an air bag for Kennedy's character's fall from a high-rise, but the bag split open and Bakunas struck the ground and was killed instantly.
H.B. Halicki, Gone in Sixty Seconds 2 (1989)
Stunt driver Halicki also wrote and directed the original Gone in Sixty Seconds in 1974. During production on the sequel's most elaborate car stunt, Halicki was killed when a 160-foot water tower toppled over, pulling down a telephone pole that crushed Halicki's car.
Sonja Davis, Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
Davis, a veteran of action films like Timecop and Deep Cover, doubled for Angela Bassett during filming of Wes Craven's horror comedy. Sadly, a free-fall stunt went awry, and Davis plunged to her death.