Olivier Gensse

France | Test Pilot

Passionate about aeronautics since a young age, I joined the French Air Force in 1990 to become a pilot. This allowed me to acquire licenses and experience in both tactics and logistics, while being paid... Military missions are rich in diversity, I would remember rescue missions whether at sea or in the mountains, NVG flight, missions abroad. After 10 years of experience, I took the opportunity to become a helicopter test pilot and a new “career” began.

I was then able to develop new helicopters like the Cabri G2, the H125 B3e, the H130 T2 and the H160. My main concerns in terms of flight safety are a precise understanding of the particular phenomena of helicopters thanks to the engineers of the design office and the definition of future safety standards in terms of equipment, cockpit and human factors.

I am currently an experimental test pilot at Airbus Helicopters, I have a total of 8700 flight hours on 65 different aircraft. I also hold 3 world records in helicopters.

I am an Experimental Test Pilot, ATPLH, FI, TRI (Instructor), TRE (Examiner), FTI.

I am married and have 5 children.