The 74 year old pilot (if confirmed) does suggest a private flight. My experience of this kind of operation was the owner (who was type rated) choosing to have a professional pilot along at all times. The professional pilot of course flew other charter operations single pilot. Appears to be a different case here. Two very experienced aviators down and a sad way to go.
There is quite a lot of (also unconfirmed) speculation in the French press which does indeed paint a somewhat different picture. Dassault had apparently acquired the helicopter quite recently and was said to be taking instruction from the other pilot, who was an ex Air France captain. The ground was wet, leading to the aircraft landing in a less than ideal position for the subsequent takeoff. Who was flying at the time of the takeoff is unclear and may be hard to ascertain. In any case the takeoff was reported to be unusual and different from previous departures with the blades then impacting a tree. Whether the late hour, and concerns about completing the flight by nightfall played a role were also considered. One view was that there were an unfortunate set of circumstances leading up to the crash.
Last edited by lederhosen; 8th Mar 2021 at 17:43.