DEN93LA070 · Enstrom F-28C
Falcon Helicopters Enstrom F-28C · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From 2V2 · Longmont, CO to 2V2
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's flight rules. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN93LA070
- 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
- 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
- N625H
- Operator
- Falcon Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 2V2 · Longmont, COTo 2V2
- 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 Possible conflict
- 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
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Copilot/second pilot › Compensation for wind conditions, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING A ONE TIME RENTAL PATROL FLIGHT, THE SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES AIR TAXIED THE HELICOPTER BY THE DISPATCH BUILDING AND AIMED THE HELICOPTER SPOTLIGHT IN THE WINDOW TO ALERT THE DISPATCHER THAT THEY WERE ATTEMPTING TO COMMUNICATE VIA PORTABLE RADIO. THE HELICOPTER BEGAN TO SPIN TO THE RIGHT AND AFTER SEVERAL REVOLUTIONS, THE PILOT IN COMMAND TOOK CONTROL FROM THE SECOND PILOT AND CUT POWER IN ORDER TO STOP THE SPIN. HE GUIDED THE HELICOPTER TO THE POLICE PARKING LOT BESIDE THE BUILDING AND COLLIDED WITH TWO VEHICLES PARKED IN THE LOT. THE TAIL ROTOR DRIVE AND CONTROL SYSTEM WERE NOT COMPROMISED IN THE ACCIDENT AND EXAMINATION PROVIDED NO EVIDENCE OF FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION. ACTUAL WIND CONDITIONS AT THE ACCIDENT SITE ARE UNKNOWN; HOWEVER, THE PILOT FLYING STATED THAT HE THOUGHT A WIND SHIFT OCCURRED AND HE WAS ATTEMPTING TO TURN INTO THE WIND WHEN CONTROL WAS LOST.
Probable cause
A FAILURE BY THE PILOT FLYING TO ADEQUATELY COMPENSATE FOR WIND CONDITIONS WHICH LED TO A LOSS OF TAIL ROTOR CONTROL. A FACTOR WAS: INADEQUATE SUPERVISION BY THE PILOT IN COMMAND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN93LA070
- Event ID
- 20001211X12600
- Case number
- DEN93LA070
- 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 1993-06-27.
- API snapshot SHA-256: f272971d9d41751e54a9a01b9c2a42eb6049f39eba5bab83f4409b4053a6cfbb; retrieved 2026-09-23T01:55:37.616Z.