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 underway after Sunday’s crash in the town of Touques in Normandy, according to the regional prosecutor’s office in Lisieux.
The French national air accident investigation agency, the BEA, said the Airbus AS350 helicopter crashed just after takeoff from a private airfield. BEA investigators were travelling to the site on Monday.
