Three people have died after two helicopters collided in mid-air near McMinnville Municipal Airport in the US state of Oregon on Thursday afternoon, in a helicopter crash that also shut down a major highway.
The collision happened at about 2:15 p.m. local time in a rural area a few miles east of the airport, about 35–40 miles southwest of Portland. Both aircraft came down in a private farm field, according to the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office.
A Flight Instructor, Her Student and a Pilot Killed
The aircraft involved were a Robinson R22, a small two-seat helicopter widely used for pilot training, and an Airbus H125 (also known as the AS350), according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The sheriff’s office identified the victims as 22-year-old flight instructor Maddie Aasbo from Texas and a student pilot from the United Kingdom, who were in one helicopter, CNN reported. The student’s name has not been released. The pilot of the other helicopter, 38-year-old Tyler Sturdevant of Newberg, Oregon, was flying alone.
Jerry Trimble Helicopters, a flight school and helicopter rental company based at the airport, said one of its aircraft was involved and that it is cooperating with authorities.
Highway Closed
Emergency crews from local police, fire and medical services rushed to the scene. Oregon Highway 233 was closed about a mile west of Dayton, along with several local roads, with no immediate estimate for reopening, the Associated Press reported.
Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott urged the public to avoid the area and asked for “patience as we respond to this critical incident.”
NTSB Leads Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation, with support from the FAA. Investigators from both agencies were at the crash site on Thursday night.
It is not yet known what the two helicopters were doing at the time of the collision or how they came to be in the same airspace. The NTSB typically releases a preliminary report within a few weeks, with a final report on the cause taking a year or more.
Busy Training Airspace
McMinnville Municipal Airport is a busy hub for helicopter flight training, with students from around the world coming to learn to fly. Mid-air collisions are rare but particularly dangerous around training airports, where several aircraft may be practising manoeuvres close together.
Sources: CNN via KRDO, ABC News, Associated Press. Image: Wikimedia Commons (file photo of a Robinson R22, not the aircraft involved).