2015 Villa Castelli mid-air collision
Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil and Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil · Mid-air collision caused by pilot error
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 10 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 10
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Unknown
Aircraft 1 · Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter AS350
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- LQ-CGK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 2 · Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter AS350
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- LQ-FJQ
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 9 March 2015, two Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopters collided mid-air near Villa Castelli, Argentina, killing all ten people on board both aircraft.
The helicopters had just departed together from the same spot and collided during the initial climb-out. They were transporting production staff and French sports stars participating in the French reality TV series Dropped. Among the victims were French sailor Florence Arthaud, swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine.
Background
The French television channel TF1 was filming an episode of Dropped, a reality TV show that takes celebrities to a hostile environment by helicopter and films their efforts to survive. The cast comprised various Olympic medallists and international sportspeople, including French athletes Alain Bernard, Philippe Candeloro, Jeannie Longo, and Sylvain Wiltord, plus Arthaud, Muffat and Vastine; Swiss athlete Anne-Flore Marxer was also taking part.
Filming began in late February 2015 in Ushuaia, in the far south of Argentina, before moving to Northwest Argentina, in the province of La Rioja, about 1170 km from the capital Buenos Aires. At the time of the accident, Wiltord had already been eliminated from the competition and was back in France.
Collision
Each helicopter was carrying four passengers in addition to the pilot. Seconds after taking off together, at about 17:15 local time (20:15 UTC), the two helicopters collided while climbing away at a height of about 100 m, and both crashed to the ground.
A video of the accident appears to show the lower of the two helicopters climbing at a higher rate than the one above, colliding with the latter from below. Weather conditions at the time were reported as good.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Junta de Investigaciones de Accidentes de Aviación Civil (JIAAC), Argentina's state body in charge of air accident inquires, opened an investigation, assisted by their French counterpart Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA). French prosecutors also opened a case.
The deputy leader of the Radical Civic Union party stated that LQ-CGK was an official helicopter of La Rioja province, only meant to be used for medical emergencies. Governor Luis Beder Herrera confirmed this statement and stated that the helicopter had been "lent" to a tourism company.
The final report, released in Spanish, English and French, determined the factors related to the accident as:
Text from the Wikipedia article “2015 Villa Castelli mid-air collision” (revision 1347783638, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2015 Villa Castelli mid-air collision
- Revision
- 1347783638 · 2026-04-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q19523169
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2015 Villa Castelli mid-air collision" (page 45631478, revision 1347783638)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- not stated in the Wikipedia article's infobox or opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.