On 9 March 2015, two

Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil The Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (or Squirrel), now Airbus Helicopters H125, is a single-engine light utility helicopter originally designed and manufactured in France by Aérospatiale and Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters). In North Americ ...

helicopters collided mid-air near

Villa Castelli, Argentina Villa Castelli is a small town and seat of the General Lamadrid Department in the Province of La Rioja, northwestern Argentina. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,697. Around west of the city of La Rioja, it is at the foot of the Sierra de Fa ...

, 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 guests for the French reality TV series ''Dropped'', and among the victims were French sailor

Florence Arthaud Florence Arthaud (28 October 1957 – 9 March 2015) was a French sailor from Boulogne-Billancourt. She was the daughter of Jacques Arthaud, director of the Arthaud publishing house. Biography At age 17, she was in a serious car accident, which ...

, swimmer

Camille Muffat Camille Muffat (; 28 October 1989 – 9 March 2015) was a French swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. Swimming for the Olympic Nice Natation club, she specialised in the individual medley and the free style events. Her career ran from 2005 ...

and boxer

Alexis Vastine Alexis Vastine (17 November 1986 – 9 March 2015) was a French boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Light Welterweight division. He also competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, where he was eliminated in the quarterfi ...

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 Alain Bernard (; born 1 May 1983) is a former French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône. Bernard won a total of four medals (two golds, one silver, and one bronze) at two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012). He also won numerous medals at the W ...

Philippe Candeloro Philippe Candeloro (born 17 February 1972) is a French former competitive figure skater. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist (1994, 1998), a two-time World medalist (1994 silver, 1995 bronze), a two-time European silver medalist (1993, 1997 ...

Jeannie Longo Jeannie Longo (born 31 October 1958 in Annecy, Haute-Savoie) is a French racing cyclist, 25-time French champion and 13-time world champion. Longo began racing in 1975 and was active in cycling through 2012. She was once widely considered the b ...

, and

Sylvain Wiltord Sylvain Claude Wiltord (born 10 May 1974) is a French former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also played as a centre-forward, second striker and on the left wing. Wiltord had a four-season spell at Arsenal, with whom he won t ...

, plus Arthaud, Muffat and Vastine; Swiss athlete

Anne-Flore Marxer Anne-Flore Marxer (born 24 January 1984) is a Swiss-French snowboarder. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Marxer grew up in Preverenges, starting snowboarding at an early age as soon as she could walk. She started competing in 2004. In 2011, she won ...

was also taking part. Filming began in late February 2015 in

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's southern ...

, in the far south of Argentina, before moving to Northwest Argentina, in the province of

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and N� ...

, about 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 Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(20:15 UTC), the two helicopters collided while climbing away at a height of about , 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 other one, colliding with it from below. Weather conditions at the time were reported as good.

Aircraft

The two aircraft involved were both Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil; one was registered LQ-CGK, the other LQ-FJQ. LQ-CGK was manufactured in 2010 and was owned by the provincial government of La Rioja. LQ-FJQ was manufactured in 2012 and was owned by the provincial government of

Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surf ...

Victims

All ten people on board both aircraft were killed in the accident, including French athletes

and

. The others killed were the two Argentinian pilots and five French members of the production team,

Adventure Line Productions Adventure Line Productions (formerly Tilt Productions until 1998 and Anabase Productions), part of Banijay, is a French television production company which specialises in creating adventure gameshows (over 1,500 episodes of '' Fort Boyard'') and a ...

. The other show contestants were reported to have been waiting on the ground nearby when the accident occurred.

Reactions

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

, said, "The sudden death of our fellow French nationals is a cause of immense sadness." *

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, "I'm sad for my friends, I'm trembling, I'm horrified, I have no words, I don't want to say anything." *TF1 issued a statement saying, "All TF1 teams come together in this terrible time with the pain of the families and relatives of the victims."

Investigation

The ''

Junta de Investigaciones de Accidentes de Aviación Civil Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

'' (JIAAC), Argentina's state body in charge of air accident inquires, opened an investigation, assisted by the French counterpart ''

Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...

'' (BEA). French prosecutors also opened a case. The deputy leader of the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the So ...

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 Luis Beder Herrera (born 26 May 1951) is an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ) politician. He was the governor of La Rioja Province from 2007 to 2015. Born in Campanas, La Rioja, Herrera graduated as a lawyer in 1976 from the National Univer ...

confirmed this statement and stated that the helicopter had been "

lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

" to a tourism company. The final report, released in Spanish, English and French, determined the factors related to the accident as:

References

External links

*
JIAAC – Accidente de helicópteros en Villa Castelli – La Rioja

Archive
*
Un equipo de JIAAC investiga el accidente de helicópteros en La Rioja

Archive
*
BEA – Accident in Argentina, between two Airbus Helicopters AS 350’s on Monday 9 March 2015

Archive

Helicopters crash, killing stars of French reality TV show

France mourns sports stars killed in Argentina helicopter crash

Top French athletes among 10 dead after 2 helicopters collide in Argentina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Castelli mid-air collision 2015 in Argentina 2015 in France Accidents and incidents involving the Eurocopter AS350 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2015 Aviation accidents and incidents in Argentina La Rioja Province, Argentina Mid-air collisions Mid-air collisions involving helicopters March 2015 events in South America