Midair Helicopter Collision Near McMinnville Kills Three People

Three people died Thursday when two helicopters collided in midair southeast of McMinnville, the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office said. OPB reported the crash happened around 2 p.m. in a farm field beside Highway 233, a few miles from McMinnville Municipal Airport.

The aircraft were a 1995 Robinson R22 and a 2018 Airbus AS350B3, according to the sheriff’s office. The R22 carried a flight instructor and a student pilot from the United Kingdom, and the Airbus had one occupant. The sheriff described the occupant information as preliminary, ABC News reported.

OPB reported that one of the aircraft came from a helicopter school based at the airport, and that the Oregon Department of Transportation asked drivers to avoid the crash site while investigators worked. ABC News and OPB both reported that the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, with the Federal Aviation Administration. ABC News noted that an earlier FAA statement gave different occupant counts than the sheriff’s. ABC placed the crash at a different road intersection than OPB; the exact location is not settled in the reports.