It is a drama which will sadly celebrate its tenth anniversary on March 9. In 2015, in Argentina, while filming the show Dropped pour TF1 is underway, two helicopters collide and crash, causing the death of 10 people. Among the victims are the two pilots, members of the production team and three French athletes: sailor Florence Arthaud, boxer Alexis Vastine and swimmer Camille Muffat.
Snowboarder Anne-Flore Marxer, skater Philippe Candeloro, cyclist Jeannie Longo, footballer Sylvain Wiltord and swimmer Alain Bernard were present in the cast of the show but were not in the helicopters involved in the tragedy. “We weren’t in flight yet.“, says Alain Bernard on the set of At Jordan de Luxe this Tuesday, October 8 on C8on the sidelines of an interview dedicated to his autobiography My Olympic destiny. “We had a casting where we didn’t know each other. We got to know each other a few hours before boarding the plane to go to South America. The objective of this show is to be dropped into two separate teams in the middle of nowhere and without any means of communication or food within our reach, only drinking water. We must try to reach a point of civilization to have access to a telephone.“
Alain Bernard returns to the drama Dropped
In order to better understand how this tragedy could have taken place, Alain Bernard explained how the hours preceding the accident unfolded: “There are two teams that are formed. On the first rotation, we took the helicopters, we were dropped in one place. The helicopters then pick up the second team and drop them at the same location. It was during this second phase of broadcast where there was the accident. There is a helicopter with the athletes in it, and another with the cameramen. The day was postponed for safety reasons due to the weather. Once they saw that the weather conditions were right, they decided to send us away. It was on this first departure wave that the two helicopters collided. We are a few hundred meters away. We don’t see the accident with our own eyes. We see the helicopters leaving. We arrive and it’s a tragedy.“
Although he rarely spoke about the tragedy, Alain Bernard assures that he needed to confide in his book in order to begin a healing process: “Talking about it was something important for me, because it leaves a mark. We’re going on an adventure… It’s just horrible. We don’t wish that on anyone. When you turn your phone back on after this horrible day, you tell yourself that you haven’t gone far. Why them, why not me? It’s being in the wrong place at the wrong time.“
The former swimmer points to the responsibility of the pilots
Passionate about the world of aeronautics, Alain Bernard then gave his feelings on the causes which could have led to the accident between the two helicopters: “I know that when you are in a vehicle, you must be in control of your vehicle, whether it is a scooter, a motorcycle, a helicopter, a plane… There, there was a real breach between the two pilots who were suddenly in front, a stroke behind. In aeronautics, that is unforgiving. The other thought he was behind him on the left, he took a turn to the right and in fact, he was behind him.“
“I have rarely expressed myself on this, because for me, it remains the helicopter pilots who are responsible and they are no longer there to defend themselves.“, continues Alain Bernard, who will never forget his traveling companions. “It marks life forever. They had their lives ahead of them. We think of the three athletes, but there is also the entire production team, the journalists who died in this accident. It’s a shock, it can be a trauma. When I got home, I wanted to resume my business, my appointments, my travels. Selfishly, we tell ourselves that we want to live for them.”
