Elixir grounds fleet after fatal crash in France; EASA issues flight ban

Two employees of Elixir Aircraft died on 1 October when one of the company's light aircraft crashed at Rochefort-Saint-Agnant airfield in France. The pilots, aged 29 and 45, were on what the manufacturer described as a routine production flight. The aircraft came down at around 11:00 on the grounds of the adjoining military airbase 721. The cause has not been established and authorities are investigating. It is the first fatal accident involving an Elixir.

The company acted the following day, asking all operators to keep their aircraft on the ground until further notice. About 60 aircraft in five countries are affected. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a flight ban on the same day, 2 October, which took effect on 3 October.

Elixir Aircraft is based in La Rochelle. The two-seat low-wing aircraft was designed by two young engineers in a garage in 2015 and is built from composite materials, with an airframe of only eight parts and no screws or rivets, which the manufacturer says makes it light and low-maintenance. It is powered by a Rotax 912iS engine and carries a whole-aircraft recovery system.

EASA certified the type in March 2020, and the US Federal Aviation Administration followed in July 2025. The company had positioned the aircraft as a replacement for ageing Cessna and Piper trainers. It reported around 60 aircraft delivered by the summer and presented a new Elixir+ family with three versions at Oshkosh. Staff numbers have grown from 20 at the time of certification to around 240 today in La Rochelle.