Two helicopters collide near Oregon airport, killing 3
Two helicopters collided in midair Thursday afternoon near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon, about 40 miles southwest of Portland, killing all three people aboard. One was on an instructional flight and the other on a post-maintenance flight. The NTSB is leading the investigation.
Bias breakdown and outlet coverageon the RUSH story page →What happened
Two helicopters collided in midair Thursday afternoon near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon, killing all three people aboard, Wfaa, Wivb, Beaumont Enterprise and The Epoch Times reported. The crash shut down part of an Oregon highway while the FAA and NTSB began investigating.
Authorities identified a 1995 Robinson R22 on an instructional flight and a 2018 Airbus on a post-maintenance flight, according to Beaumont Enterprise and The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times reported Highway 233 was closed after the wreckage came down in a field near Dayton.
The victims
Coverage across WFAA, WIVB and Beaumont Enterprise identified flight instructor Maddie Aasbo, a student pilot from the United Kingdom, and solo pilot Tyler Sturdevant among the dead. Investigators said they are trying to determine why the two aircraft were in the same airspace, Beaumont Enterprise reported.
Why it matters
Investigators now have to establish how a training flight and a post-maintenance flight ended up colliding near the airport, a question federal investigators are working to answer.