Three people died when a Robinson R22 and an Airbus AS350B3 collided in midair near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon on 29 October. Both helicopters came down in a farm field about a mile east of the airport, southwest of Portland. The R22 was carrying a flight instructor and a student pilot on an instructional flight; the AS350B3 had one pilot aboard and was conducting a post-maintenance check flight.
Witnesses placed the helicopters about 500 feet above the ground when they collided, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation with Federal Aviation Administration involvement. The cause has not been established. The NTSB expects to issue a preliminary report in about 30 days.
The collision occurred near an airport without a control tower, where pilots use a shared radio frequency to announce their positions and intentions. Investigators have not reported whether communications or traffic awareness played a role. Early FAA information differed from later accounts about how many people were aboard each helicopter; subsequent NTSB and local reporting placed the instructor and student in the Robinson and the pilot alone in the Airbus.