ATL86LA236 · Enstrom F-28C
Enstrom F-28C · Accident during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL86LA236
- 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
- N549H
- Operator
- Unknown
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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, excessive
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, improper
- 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 PLT INITIATED A MAXIMUM POWER TAKEOFF FROM A CONFINED PARKING LOT WITH 2 PASSENGERS ON BOARD. THE AREA WAS BOARDERED BY OBSTRUCTIONS & PEOPLE. THE PLT RPRTD THAT DURING LIFT-OFF, SHE INCREASED POWER TO 2900 RPM, LIFTED OFF TO A 4' HOVER WITH 33' OF MANIFOLD PRESSURE, THEN BEGAN A MAX PERFORMANCE TAKEOFF, 'PULLING POWER AND TURNING THROTTLE' FOR EXTRA RPM WITH SLOW FORWARD SPEED, REACHING 36' OF MANIFOLD PRESSURE. AT APRX 15' AGL, THE PLT NOTED A DECREASE IN RPM. SHE INCREASED THROTTLE APPLICATION, THEN DECREASED THE COLLECTIVE, BUT WAS UNABLE TO RECOVER THE LOSS OF RPM. SHE MADE A LEFT PEDAL TURN TO AVOID OBSTRUCTIONS & PEOPLE. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE HELICOPTER TOUCHED DOWN HARD & WAS DAMAGED. AN EXAM OF THE ENG DID NOT REVEAL ANY DEFECTS. THE FLT MANUAL WARNED THAT LOSS OF ROTOR & ENG RPM WOULD FOLLOW WHEN THE ENG WAS OVERBOOSTED. AT 36.5' OF MANIFOLD PRESSURE, THE POP-OFF VALVE WOULD HAVE ACTIVATED WHICH WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN A SLIGHT POWER LOSS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL86LA236
- Event ID
- 20001213X34698
- Case number
- ATL86LA236
- 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: 514a4021fba6a6a5a9377fdc43eeed7b910a3f119404efeeb3884aa4c0f41d68; retrieved 2026-09-23T14:02:50.730Z.