Two Americans and a Brit are dead following a crash between two helicopters Thursday near McMinnville Municipal Airport near Portland, Oregon.
The helicopters, one a Robinson R22 helicopter and the other an Airbus AS350B3, collided at around 2:10 p.m. and slammed into a field near Oregon Route 233, the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office said on social media.
The three occupants of the two aircraft all died.
People were interested in these podcasts
“I heard the helicopter noise, I bent over to do something and then boom I looked up and everything was going down. There was a larger one [helicopter] intact still. The tail end of it was struck, and then it turned and it propelled down and the other one dropped straight down,” Leo Rodriquez, who saw the crash from the roof of his barn, told Portland’s KPTV.
The sheriff’s office said two people were on board the Robinson helicopter: 22-year-old flight instructor Maddie Aasbo from Texas and a student pilot from Britain whose identity is being withheld so the family can be notified.
The only person on the Airbus was Tyler Sturdevant, 38, of Newberg, near McMinnville.
The release from the sheriff’s office contradicts an earlier report from the Federal Aviation Administration, which said two people were on the Airbus and one on the Robinson helicopter.
The Robinson chopper was owned by local flight school Jerry Trimble Helicopters, based out of the airport.
In a statement on social media, the flight school said it “is deeply saddened to confirm that one of our aircraft was involved in an aviation incident this afternoon, October 29, 2026, near the McMinnville Municipal Airport. Our hearts and thoughts are with the individuals involved, their families, and everyone affected by this event.”
Mr. Sturdevant was a pilot for Precision Helicopters, also based in McMinnville, according to LinkedIn.
“We have confirmed that there was a mid-air collision near the McMinnville Airport involving one of our aircraft. This incident resulted in the fatal injury of our beloved senior pilot Tyler Sturdevant. … His legacy lives on in every pilot he helped bring up and every life he made a difference in. The impact he made on this aviation community will never be forgotten,” Precision Helicopters said on social media.
In addition to the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision. Neither agency has said what could have caused the crash.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.