2021 Touques Airbus AS350B helicopter crash
Dolijet Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil · Loss of control during takeoff due to collision with trees
From Touque private helipad to Beauvais private helipad
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
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 2
- 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
Eurocopter AS350 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
- F-GIBM
- Operator
- Dolijet
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Route
- From Touque private helipadTo Beauvais private helipad
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 7 March 2021, a Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopter crashed in Touques, Calvados, Normandy, France. The French politician and billionaire Olivier Dassault and the pilot were killed.
Accident
The accident was investigated by France's air accident investigation bureau the BEA. The aircraft was due to take a flight from a private helipad in Touques to another privately owned helipad in Beauvais at a property owned by Dassault. The helicopter landing site, chosen the day prior, was restricted by surrounding trees. The highest of which was 23 meters. Shortly after the engine start up, the aircraft was in hover-flight, then climbed vertically next to these trees before the main rotor struck a tree at around 19 meters. At impact the tail boom separated from the aircraft, with 90% of the rivets shearing. The impact also led to an overtorque on the main rotor hub, which ripped away the front passenger seats. The aircraft yawed whilst flying forward, fell and struck the ground around 50 meters from the take off point.
Investigation and cause
Causes
The BEA concluded that the landing site chosen had restricted the possibility of a safe manoeuvre for take off, and the pilot had a small safety margin with tree branches that were in shade. They believed that the pilot may have had difficulty assessing the distance to the branches due to the shade and low light contrast. The BEA issued two safety recommendations in their report. These were in respect to training for the use of this type of aircraft in confined areas, and furthermore awareness of ageing performance of the visual system.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2021 Touques Airbus AS350B helicopter crash” (revision 1359328866, 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: 2021 Touques Airbus AS350B helicopter crash
- Revision
- 1359328866 · 2026-06-14 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q106238034
- 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 "2021 Touques Airbus AS350B helicopter crash" (page 67077530, revision 1359328866)
- 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: aircraft 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.