Airbus EC130 T2 crash near Villefranche-sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France

The Monacair EC130 left Lausanne, Switzerland shortly after midday for Monaco. On approach to the heliport it struck high ground above the village of Eze, the impact point being on the Plateau de la Justice near the Col d'Eze, above the A8 autoroute. The 35-year-old French pilot, who had 2,360 flying hours and knew the area well, was killed along with his sole passenger, Vyacheslav Taran, a 53-year-old Russian businessman and long-time Monaco resident. A second passenger had booked the flight but cancelled at the last minute. Fifty-three firefighters were sent to the difficult-to-access site. Because Taran worked in cryptocurrency and was the third entrepreneur in that sector to die unexpectedly within weeks, the crash attracted extensive speculation, and the deputy public prosecutor of Nice initially declined to rule out third-party involvement. The BEA investigation, published in late 2023, found no such evidence: the aircraft had recently been stripped down and reassembled and was in excellent condition. The report attributed the accident to localised sea mists combined with the pilot's impairment, post-mortem hair analysis confirming long-term cocaine use, with consumption within hours of the flight and cocaethylene in his blood indicating alcohol as well.