Oregon Helicopter Crash: Highway 233 Shut, Three Dead

Two helicopters collided over an Oregon farm field on Thursday, killing three people and shutting a highway used to reach Portland from the Willamette Valley.

Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott identified the dead as pilot Tyler Sturdevant, 38, of Oregon; flight instructor Maddie Aasbo, 22, of Texas; and an unnamed student pilot from the United Kingdom. Aasbo and the student were aboard one aircraft; Sturdevant flew the other.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the crash involved a two-seat Robinson R22 and an Airbus H125, a model configured to carry up to six passengers. The wreckage came down a few miles east of McMinnville Airport, and emergency crews reached the site at about 2:15 p.m. Recovery work continued into Thursday evening. Photographs released by the sheriff's department show a green helicopter inverted in the field and a red aircraft broken into pieces.

One of the helicopters belonged to Jerry Trimble Helicopters, a flight school at the airport. The school said it is working with authorities to secure the site and determine the cause. It posted a photo of Aasbo last year after she earned her private pilot certificate and began instrument training. McMinnville, 35 miles southwest of Portland, has about 34,000 residents. The airport sits on 650 acres with two paved runways and stayed open Thursday.

The Oregon Department of Transportation closed Highway 233 for one mile west of Dayton, with no reopening date set. Local roads are shut as well, and the sheriff's office asked drivers to stay away. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.