BFO96LA003 · Enstrom F28-280C
Enstrom F28-280C · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Galenstein Park Heliport (22OH) to an unrecorded destination
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's aircraft involved. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO96LA003
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Enstrom F28-280C Possible conflict
- Aircraft type
- Enstrom F28
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N51786
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Galenstein Park Heliport (22OH)To not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering · hover
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE COMMERCIAL PILOT STATED THAT BECAUSE OF OBSTACLES IN THE VICINITY OF THE HELICOPTER, HE DECIDED TO HOVER TAXI BACKWARDS, THEN MAKE A LEFT TURN FOR TAKEOFF. HE REPORTED THAT HE BEGAN TO HOVER TAXI WITH A TAILWIND OF 14 KNOTS, WITH GUSTS TO 22 KNOTS. THE PILOT STATED THAT BECAUSE OF THE WINDS, HE WAS FOCUSED ON THE WINDSOCK, HIS FLIGHT PATH AND ENGINE RPM, AND FORGOT ABOUT THE HELICOPTER WHICH WAS PARKED BEHIND HIM. THE MAIN ROTOR STRUCK THE PARKED HELICOPTER AS THE PILOT WAS TURNING THE HELICOPTER TO THE LEFT.
Probable cause
the commercial pilot's failure to maintain clearance from obstacles during hover-taxi operations. Related factors the tailwind, the nearby obstacle, and the misjudged maneuver to avoid obstacles.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO96LA003
- Event ID
- 20001207X04644
- Case number
- BFO96LA003
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: fecf712ba0354b25182f6bb9c845f5a93f76c866493a4394f7d6e86216b37679; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:11:17.311Z.