ATL05CA028 · Enstrom F-28A
Enstrom F-28A · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Franklin Wilkins Airport (KM52) to Smyrna Airport (KMQY)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL05CA028
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-28A
- 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
- N9235
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Franklin Wilkins Airport (KM52), Lexington, TNTo Smyrna Airport (KMQY), Smyrna, TN
- 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
- Approach
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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 › Flare, improper
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated he reduced the collective from 23 inches of manifold pressure to 21 inches of manifold pressure to initiate a descent for landing, and it "felt like the engine was shuddering." He stated he increased the manifold pressure to 23 inches, and the engine "seemed to smooth out." He stated he entered a left base, then turned final and reduced the manifold pressure. On final approach, the pilot slowed the helicopter to approximately 10 miles per hour, and when he added more collective, he saw the "rpm drop to the bottom of the green." He stated he "dropped collective and added throttle." He stated the helicopter would not maintain altitude, and he attempted a run-on landing in the grass; the left skid contacted the ground and collapsed, and the helicopter rolled over onto its left side. Examination revealed the forward and aft left skid struts were bent inboard approximately 135 degrees. Two main rotor blades were bent downward and were delaminated near the root and on the trailing edge of the blades. The third main rotor blade was bent upward near the tip, and trailing edge and upper skin deformation was observed. Continuity for the tail rotor, cyclic, collective, over-running clutch, throttle, and mixture controls was established. Examination of the drive belt revealed a shaved area in the vicinity of the clutch assembly, and the over-running clutch operated. The fan shroud displayed circumferential scoring. An engine start was attempted by utilizing the cockpit engine controls. The engine started, then idled smoothly. Higher rpm settings were not attempted.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, and the pilot's improper flare during forced landing, which resulted in an inflight collision into an open field.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL05CA028
- Event ID
- 20041228X02036
- Case number
- ATL05CA028
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2004-11-22.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3101cd6683771c8b3bf984aee0ed550b38044c99c9d35ee57d74d4e727d9ebd7; retrieved 2026-09-22T06:29:40.375Z.