French MP and billionaire Olivier Dassault dies in helicopter crash - aysor am aysor.am - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aysor.am Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Olivier Dassault, the 69-year-old heir of the family-owned Dassault Group, which makes Falcon private jets and Rafale fighter planes, died Sunday along with a pilot when an Airbus AS350 helicopter …
French aviation billionaire, pilot die in helicopter crash
Olivier Dassault, 69, was heir to a powerful family business empire that made Falcon private jets and Rafale fighter planes. Author: Associated Press Updated: 4:20 AM EST March 8, 2021
PARIS, France A French billionaire aviation industrialist and member of parliament has died in a helicopter crash along with the pilot, authorities said.
Olivier Dassault, 69, was heir to a powerful family business empire that made Falcon private jets and Rafale fighter planes and owned many other businesses including Le Figaro newspaper.
A judicial inquiry for eventual manslaughter charges is under way after Sunday’s crash in the town of Touques in Normandy, according to the regional prosecutor’s office in Lisieux.
The accident occurred on Sunday evening, March 8, Â in Normandy where he has a holiday home.
The 69-year-old, who was the eldest son of the late French billionaire Serge Dassault, was returning to Paris following a weekend in the English Channel resort of Deauville when his AS350 Squirrel crashed.
The father-of-three, who was heir to the Dassault Aviation fortune, died alongside the helicopter’s pilot.
‘They had just taken off, when the helicopter got into difficulty and came down on private land,’ said an investigating source.Â
Franceâs Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis of Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) immediately sent five investigators to the scene to carry out an enquiry.
- March 8, 2021, 9:06 AM
Olivier Dassault (front row, second from the left) pictured at the 2019 Paris Air Show alongside French President Emmanuel Macron (center) and Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier (second from the right). (Photo: Dassault Aviation/X Bejot)
Olivier Dassault, 69, a prominent French politician and Dassault Aviation board member, was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday afternoon. French accident investigation agency BEA confirmed that an Airbus AS350B single crashed soon after takeoff from “private grounds” at Touques on the Normandy coast, close to where Dassault reportedly has a home.
According to police reports in various French media outlets, the pilot, who has not yet been named, was also killed in the accident that occurred at 5:50 p.m. local time. Local prosecutors have formally launched an involuntary manslaughter investigation.