一名经验丰富的飞行员正在驾驶一架直升机进行试飞，另一架直升机上则是一名22岁的飞行教员和一名来自英国的学员飞行员。两架飞机在俄勒冈州上空相撞，随后坠落在一片农田里。
An experienced pilot was on a test run in a helicopter and a 22-year old flight instructor with a student pilot from the United Kingdom were on another chopper when their two aircraft collided midair in Oregon and crashed into a farm field.
事故发生在周四下午2点左右，当时天空阴云密布。执法部门发布的照片显示，一架红色直升机扭曲地躺在农田里，而一架绿色直升机则倒扣在地面上。
The crash happened around 2 p.m. Thursday on a cloudy day. Law enforcement photos showed a red helicopter laying crumpled in a farm field, while a green helicopter came to rest upside down.
国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）周五上午表示，一个调查组正赶往麦克明维尔机场附近的残骸现场，该地位于波特兰西南约一小时车程处。该镇坐落在宽阔平坦的威拉米特河谷，靠近海岸山脉的山麓，处于俄勒冈州葡萄酒产区的核心地带。
The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday morning that a team was on its way to examine the wreckage near the airport in McMinnville, about an hour’s drive southwest of Portland. The town lies in the broad, flat Willamette Valley near the foothills of the Coast Range, in the heart of Oregon’s wine country.
利奥·罗德里格斯当时正在他家族酒庄附近的谷仓屋顶上干活，目睹了直升机相撞的过程。“空中发生了一次爆炸，”他对KPTV电视台说。“我弯腰去拿东西，突然‘砰’的一声，抬头一看，飞机已经在往下掉了。”
Leo Rodriguez was working on a nearby barn roof at his family’s winery when the helicopters collided.“There was an explosion mid-air,” he told KPTV. “I bent over to do something and then, boom, and I look up and the planes were already going down.”
罗德里格斯说，较大那架直升机的尾部被撞击，随即转向并开始坠落。他表示，另一架直升机则是垂直坠落的。“一切发生得太快了，”他说。
Rodriguez said the tail end of the larger helicopter was struck, then it turned and began going toward the ground. He said the other helicopter fell straight down.“It just happened so fast,” he said.
目前关于为何较小的罗宾逊R22直升机会与空客AS350B3直升机相撞，细节尚不清楚。国家运输安全委员会表示，空客直升机正在执行维修后的试飞，这是维修或修理后通常要进行的飞行。罗宾逊直升机则在执行教学飞行任务。
Few details are immediately available about why the smaller Robinson R22 helicopter collided with the Airbus AS350B3 helicopter that the NTSB said was on a maintenance flight that is typically done after maintenance or repair. The Robinson was on an instructional flight.
亚姆希尔县治安官萨姆·埃利奥特在新闻发布会上表示，遇难者包括38岁的俄勒冈州飞行员泰勒·斯特德万特、22岁的得克萨斯州飞行教员玛迪·阿斯博，以及一名31岁的来自英国的学员飞行员，后者姓名暂未公布。
The victims included 38-year-old Tyler Sturdevant, a pilot from Oregon, 22-year-old Maddie Aasbo, a flight instructor from Texas, and a 31-year-old student pilot from the United Kingdom, whose name has not been released, Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott said during a news conference.
阿斯博和学员飞行员乘坐的是罗宾逊直升机，而斯特德万特乘坐的是空客直升机。两架直升机的所有者——杰里·特林布尔直升机公司和普雷西森公司——均表示，他们正在配合当局的调查，同时设法帮助遇难者悲痛的家属。
Aasbo and the student pilot were on the Robinson helicopter, while Sturdevant was on the Airbus. The owners of the two helicopters — Jerry Trimble Helicopters and Precision — both said they are cooperating with authorities on the investigation while trying to help the grieving families of the victims.
普雷西森是一家直升机包机和维修公司，也协助军方执行无人机任务。该公司在Instagram上发帖称，斯特德万特是他们“挚爱”的资深飞行员。“泰勒不仅通过他对飞行的热爱，还通过指导、鼓励和帮助许多飞行员，触动了无数人的生命，”普雷西森在帖子中写道。“他的遗产活在每一位他帮助成长的飞行员和每一个他改变的生命中。”他的领英页面显示，过去四年他担任联邦航空管理局的飞行员检查员，同时在普雷西森工作了20多年。
Precision, a helicopter charter and maintenance company that also helps fly drone missions for the military, said in a post on Instagram that Sturdevant was their “beloved” senior pilot.“Tyler has touched countless lives, not only through his love of flying, but through the many pilots he mentored, encouraged, and helped along the way,” Precision posted. “His legacy lives on in every pilot he helped bring up and every life he made a difference in.”His LinkedIn page says he worked as a pilot examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration for the past four years while continuing to work at Precision for more than 20 years.
杰里·特林布尔飞行学校提供从首次体验飞行的演示飞行到高级培训的各类服务。
The Jerry Trimble school offers everything from demo flights for first-time flyers to advanced training.
美联社记者杰米·斯滕格尔（达拉斯）和戴夫·柯林斯（康涅狄格州哈特福德）对此文亦有贡献。
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed.