FTW98LA129 · Enstrom F-28C-2
Enstrom F-28C-2 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Centennial Airport (APA) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW98LA129
- 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 F-28C-2
- Aircraft type
- Enstrom F-28
- 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
- N5693M
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Centennial Airport (APA), Englewood, COTo 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Fuel contamination
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Contamination, water
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Broomfield, CO, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
The pilot said he noticed that the LOW FUEL PRESSURE warning light had illuminated 'along with engine roughness.' Suspecting an imminent fuel pump failure, he turned on the electric fuel pump and diverted toward a nearby airport. While on the initial landing approach, the engine lost power. As the pilot made an autorotation towards an open field, the engine began to surge. Approaching the field, the pilot turned on the landing light and caught a glimpse of powerlines. To avoid a collision, he made a pedal turn to the right. While maneuvering to avoid a collision, the main rotor rpm decayed and the helicopter struck the ground. A postaccident fuel sample taken from the engine sump disclosed water in the fuel. The source of water contamination could not be determined. The helicopter had flown several times that day, and had been serviced by an airport refueling truck. No other reports of fuel contamination were received from aircraft operators serviced by the same truck.
Probable cause
water contamination in the fuel, which resulted in loss of engine power and a forced (autorotative) landing. Factors relating to the accident were: darkness; and a high obstruction in the emergency landing area.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW98LA129
- Event ID
- 20001211X09547
- Case number
- FTW98LA129
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1998-02-15.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 9fb587cf09a3ee55ca4d51d72d3c1ca4b749b193ca9b062b519f3bf17cddf54a; retrieved 2026-09-22T18:02:16.038Z.