Aérospatiale SA 342 Gazelle crash near Carcès, Var, France

Two French Army Gazelle helicopters from the EALAT flying school at Le Cannet-des-Maures collided at 08:36 near the southern end of Lac de Carcès, Var. Both had departed Le Luc-en-Provence for separate independent training missions in the same area. Three crew were aboard one aircraft and two aboard the other; all five instructors and trainees were killed and both helicopters destroyed. The BEA-É investigation found no technical failure, attributing the collision to organisational and human factors combined with environmental ones: the two crews held no joint briefing, instructors did not inform trainees that another aircraft was operating in the same zone, the helicopters departed roughly 90 seconds apart instead of the required five minutes, and low sun over the lake caused the camouflaged aircraft to blend into the wooded terrain.