The helicopter accident which claimed the life of Olivier Dassault on March 7, 2021 in Touques, near Deauville, is linked to a collision with a tree on takeoff.
The helicopter accident which cost the life of LR deputy Olivier Dassault on March 7, 2021 in Touques, near Deauville (Calvados), is linked to a collision with a tree on takeoff, according to the report of the Bureau of Investigations and of analyzes (BEA), made public on Friday.
The helicopter in which the 69-year-old MP and his 74-year-old pilot had taken place was about 19 meters high “when the main rotor blades (hit) part of the foliage” of a tree, writes the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety in this report. “Under the shock, the tail boom separated, the helicopter turned on itself as it moved forward, fell and then hit the ground”, continues the BEA.
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The investigation could not determine which of the two men was at the controls of the aircraft during the accident, which cost the lives of the two men, or during the landing the day before. According to the BEA, “the flying zone on the helipad (…) restricted the possibilities of flying safely” and the choice of this zone, located within private property, “probably prompted the pilot to undertake a vertical take-off with little margin of safety in relation to the foliage of the trees which were in the shade”. LR deputy for the first constituency of Oise, Olivier Dassault, son of Serge Dassault, was leaving Touques to go to Oise when the accident occurred.
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