LAX89LA044 · Enstrom F-28C
Enstrom F-28C · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Inyokern, CA (no airport) to Meadows Field (BFL)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX89LA044
- 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
- N552CS
- Operator
- Westar
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Inyokern, CA (no airport)To Meadows Field (BFL), Bakersfield, CA
- 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 engine power
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Adequate rotor RPM, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT, 'I LANDED IN AN OPEN UNPOPULATED AREA FOR THE MECHANIC ... TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS ON THE MAIN BLADE (WE WERE TRACKING AND BALANCING THE BLADES). I NEVER SHUT THE ENGINE DOWN. I DISENGAGED THE CLUTCH. AFTER THE ADJUSTMENT WAS MADE, I ENGAGED THE CLUTCH AND BROUGHT IT UP TO FULL POWER WITH ALL THE CHECKS BEFORE LIFTING OFF. EVERYTHING CHECKED OUT OK. I HAD LANDED INTO THE WIND AND DEPARTED INTO THE WIND. ABOUT 25-30 FEET HIGH THE HELICOPTER SOUNDED LIKE IT WAS LOSING POWER AND VIBRATION WAS FELT. A QUICK LOOK REVEALED LOSS OF BOTH TACHS (TACHOMETERS) OF ROTOR AND ENGINE. I LOWERED THE COLLECTIVE AND ADDED MORE POWER WITH NO EFFECT. UPON LANDING THE HELICOPTER ROLLED OVER ON ITS LEFT SIDE. NO CONTROLS WERE EFFECTIVE DUE TO LOSS OF (ENGINE/ROTOR) RPMS.' THE HELICOPTER HAD BEEN MOVED PRIOR TO OFFICIALS ARRIVING ON SCENE. LATER INSPECTION REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF A MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF ANY SYSTEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX89LA044
- Event ID
- 20001213X27278
- Case number
- LAX89LA044
- 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: dc848bbbb17e576420ac2c40193954a7713fd2c8d6d898bfbd63ae81eaeda37b; retrieved 2026-09-23T08:21:09.122Z.