Authorities have confirmed a deadly outcome after an aviation emergency brought law enforcement agencies and federal investigators to rural Oregon.
The collision left wreckage scattered across a farm field, closed nearby roads, and prompted officials to withhold one victim’s name.
Three people died when two helicopters collided near McMinnville Municipal Airport Thursday afternoon, according to the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office.
The victims included a Texas flight instructor, an Oregon pilot, and a student pilot from the United Kingdom.
Sheriff Sam Elliott identified the instructor as Maddie Aasbo, 22, and the other aircraft’s pilot as Tyler Delane Sturdevant, 38.
Sturdevant was from Newberg, Oregon, while authorities worked to notify the British student’s next of kin before releasing that identity.
The sheriff’s release confirmed that Aasbo and the student occupied a Robinson R22, while Sturdevant was alone in an Airbus.
Medical and law enforcement personnel confirmed that all three occupants were dead after responders located the aircraft in the field.
The helicopters were identified in the release as a 1995 Robinson R22 and a 2018 Airbus AS350B3.
That official account clarified the occupants’ locations following reporting that placed the single pilot and two-person flight in opposite aircraft.
The updated identification is significant because preliminary details circulated while emergency crews were still determining who had been aboard.
The sheriff’s later release provides the clearer account of the aircraft occupants, rather than the reversed information released earlier.
According to the sheriff’s office, witnesses reported the crash to Yamhill Communications Agency at approximately 2:10 p.m.
Other reports placed the emergency call around 2:14 p.m., while news coverage generally described the collision as occurring around 2:15.
Those accounts place the incident in the same afternoon period, without establishing an exact second for the collision.
Responders included Yamhill County deputies, McMinnville police officers, and Oregon State Police troopers assigned to the McMinnville area.
They found both helicopters down in a field adjacent to Highway 233, southeast of McMinnville, according to the sheriff’s release.
The written update identified the area near Southeast Amity-Dayton Highway and Southeast Cruickshank Road as the reported crash location.
Earlier emergency information referred to Southeast Lafayette Highway and Southeast Stringtown Road while officials were responding to the developing incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to the scene, where the inquiry continued Thursday night.
The NTSB is leading the investigation, with the FAA also examining the incident, according to CNN’s reporting.
Federal investigators described the Robinson flight as instructional and the Airbus flight as a maintenance flight, CNN reported.
Authorities had not established a cause in the reporting reviewed, leaving unanswered how the helicopters came into conflict.
One aircraft was operated by Jerry Trimble Helicopters, a flight training and private rental company that confirmed its involvement.
The company said it was cooperating with authorities and expressed sympathy for the people involved, their families, and others affected.
The confirmation linked the tragedy to a local aviation business, while leaving the technical circumstances for investigators to determine.
Leo Rodriguez told CNN affiliate KPTV that he heard a loud impact and metal breaking before seeing the helicopters fall.
His account described the aircraft twisting and descending, providing an eyewitness description rather than a determination of the collision’s cause.
KPTV reported that he was working on a barn roof when he witnessed the aircraft make contact.
Images described in CNN’s coverage showed one red helicopter broken into pieces and another green helicopter overturned in the field.
The Oregon Department of Transportation reported a closure on Highway 233, with no reopening estimate provided in the initial coverage.
Local roads were also closed, and the sheriff’s office asked residents and motorists to avoid the area while responders worked, CNN reported.
The Associated Press reported that McMinnville Airport remained open despite the crash and surrounding road restrictions Thursday.
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