French billionaire Olivier Dassault, a politician and descendant of the family of aircraft manufacturers Dassault, died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Dassault, 69, a father of three, died at about 6 pm ET when his helicopter crashed near the luxury coastal resort of Deauville in northwest France, parliamentary and investigative sources told AFP.
French President Emmanuel Macron led tributes, saying in a tweet that “Olivier Dassault loved France. Industry captain, local MP, reserve commander in the Air Force; throughout his life he never stopped serving our country”.
Macron called his death “a great loss” and sent his condolences to the Dassault family, one of the most influential in France, with interests that span aeronautics, defense, auctioneers, wine and the media.
The Dassault Aviation group has been a leading French aircraft manufacturer for the past 70 years and is behind the Falcon private jet, the Mirage fighter plane and, more recently, the next generation Rafale fighter jet.
Forbes magazine estimated that Olivier Dassault was the 361st richest person on the planet in 2020, with an estimated fortune of around five billion euros ($ 6 billion) – almost the same as his three brothers.
– Investigation of wrongful death –
France’s national air accident investigation agency, BEA, said in a tweet that the accident occurred shortly after “private land” took off.
The weather in Deauville was sunny with a light wind on Sunday.
Sources close to the investigation indicated that the helicopter pilot also died and that no one else was on board.
An involuntary manslaughter investigation was opened by prosecutors.
The Bureau of Investigations and Analysis of Civil Aviation said in a tweet that the helicopter, an Aerospatiale AS350 Ecureuil (Esquilo), had crashed “on takeoff”.
A search area around the accident site was isolated and the air transport site was in charge of the investigation.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex hailed Dassault as “a humanist parliamentarian, a visionary businessman, a man deeply committed to his country”.
Richard Ferrand, president of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament in which Dassault served as a representative for the Oise area in northern France, said he was thinking of Dassault’s family and friends “who must be in terrible pain”.
– Famous family –
Olivier was the grandson of Marcel Bloch, a famous aeronautical engineer who changed his name to “Dassault”, which means “in attack” in French.
After helping to develop an innovative propeller used on French aircraft in World War I, Marcel was arrested during World War II and deported to a Nazi concentration camp after refusing to collaborate with Germany’s aviation industry.
Control of Dassault Aviation passed to Olivier’s father, Serge, but he had not named an heir to succeed him when he died in 2018 after suffering heart failure at his Paris office.
Olivier once declared himself “the most qualified” of Serge’s four children, receiving severe public disapproval from his father.
He seemed to be on the right track to take the reins, but shortly before his father’s death, he resigned as chairman of the group’s supervisory board because he said the role was incompatible with his parliamentary duties.
Many of Dassault’s colleagues on the political right paid tribute to a man who was also a passionate photographer, pilot and music composer.
In addition to a majority stake in the family’s aviation group, the Dassaults have their own vineyard in Bordeaux and the influential right-wing newspaper Le Figaro.
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