Air Executive Enstrom F280C accident
Enstrom F280C · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Buchanan Field (CCR)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's injuries. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83LA134
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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 F280C
- Aircraft type
- Enstrom F280
- 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
- N5691H
- Operator
- Air Executive
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Buchanan Field (CCR), Concord, 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Rotor RPM, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER COLLIDED WITH A TREE DURING A LANDING AFTER A DECAY IN ROTOR RPM DURING TAKEOFF. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT THE ACFT WAS FACING SOUTHEAST PRIOR TO DEPARTURE AND THE PILOT ESTIMATED THAT THE WIND WAS FROM THE NORTHWEST AT 8 KTS. FOLLOWING A PEDAL TURN INTO THE WIND AFTER TAKEOFF MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE WAS EXECUTED TO CLEAR A TREE THAT WAS 10 FT HIGHER THAN THE SADDLE BETWEEN 2 RIDGES WHERE THE TAKEOFF TOOK PLACE. NEAR THE TOP OF THE TREE THERE WAS A RAPID DECAY OF ROTOR RPM. DUE TO TERRAIN CONSIDERATIONS THE PILOT CHOSE NOT TO LOWER COLLECTIVE. THE ACFT WAS FLYING NEAR A STEEP SLOPE SO THE PILOT ELECTED TO LAND IN THE OAK TREE TO PREVENT A DOWNHILL ROLL. HE DID NOT FLARE TO PREVENT BALLOONING OVER THE TREE. THE ACFT WAS ABOUT 12 LBS. UNDER MAX GROSS WT DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS ABOUT 2000 FT. DURING THE LANDING THE ACFT WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED. THE 3 OCCUPANTS RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83LA134
- Event ID
- 20001214X42487
- Case number
- LAX83LA134
- 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: f717e0d503639765abf6d928cb765a5bc9f394062a78bb91a5575f96bd127a73; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:01:16.597Z.