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NYC93GA151 · Enstrom F-28C

12 Aug 1993 · Gallipolis, OH, United States

State of Ohio, Bcii Enstrom F-28C · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

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Event

NTSB case
NYC93GA151
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
N51786
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
Initial climb
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

  • Pilot in command › Collective, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Rotor RPM, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Throttle/power control, improper use of

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A PINNACLE TAKEOFF FROM A GRASSY KNOLL. DURING THE TAKEOFF, HE ENCOUNTERED A LOW ROTOR RPM CONDITION IN WHICH THE ENGINE RPM AND MAIN ROTOR RPM DECREASED TOGETHER. THE PILOT SAID HE LOWERED THE COLLECTIVE; HOWEVER, HE WAS UNABLE TO RECOVER THE MAIN ROTOR RPM IN TIME TO PREVENT A FORCED LANDING. HE MADE A RUN ON LANDING IN A GRASSY AREA AND THE MAIN ROTOR AND TAIL ROTOR BLADES STRUCK THE GROUND. THE PASSENGER EXITED THE HELICOPTER WHILE THE MAIN ROTOR WAS STILL TURNING AND HE WAS STRUCK IN THE HEAD BY A BLADE. ACCORDING TO THE FAA BASIC HELICOPTER HANDBOOK, A CONDITION OF LOW ROTOR CAN BE CORRECTED BY REDUCING THE COLLECTIVE WHICH WILL DECREASE THE DRAG ON THE ROTOR, AND THEREFORE, INCREASE THE RPM. ACCORDING TO THE HELICOPTER MANUFACTURER, ONCE THE RPM DROPS BELOW THE NORMAL OPERATING RANGE IT COULD TAKE SEVERAL SECONDS FOR THE RPM TO RECOVER TO THE NORMAL OPERATING RANGE.

Probable cause

The pilot's improper use of the collective and throttle which resulted in a low rotor rpm condition and a loss of control, and an inflight collision with the terrain.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC93GA151
Event ID
20001211X13220
Case number
NYC93GA151
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: ddb4e67b3a9733519e229736947098bfd14d1d2a5895e40aaccbb6053e628ee1; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:11:42.758Z.