CHI08CA203 · Enstrom F28F
Enstrom F28F · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) en route
From Menominee–Marinette Twin County Airport (MNM) to Ford Airport (IMT)
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
- CHI08CA203
- 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 F28F
- Aircraft type
- Enstrom F28
- 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
- N8626E
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Menominee–Marinette Twin County Airport (MNM), Menominee, MITo Ford Airport (IMT), IRON MOUNTAIN/K, MI
- 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
- En route · cruise
- Defining eventThe 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
- System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
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 that the helicopter had undergone an annual inspection at the helicopter manufacturer, and he was returning when he felt a "sudden" yaw to the left during cruise flight about 32 miles from the destination airport. The pilot then performed an "immediate" descent to a clearing, and about 60 feet above ground level and 30 miles per hour, the engine lost power. The helicopter landed on its skids and spun 180 degrees, impacting a tree with its tail rotor. The tail boom separated from the fuselage and a fire ensued consuming about 10 acres of land. The pilot exited the helicopter through the "partially jammed" passenger door because the pilot door was "jammed." The pilot received minor injuries. Examination of the engine revealed a cylinder head that was separated from its barrel.
Probable cause
The unsuitable terrain encountered by the pilot during a forced landing following a loss of engine power due to a cylinder head separation. Contributing to the accident was the tree.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI08CA203
- Event ID
- 20080826X01326
- Case number
- CHI08CA203
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates. 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: e49c481c52b5042416e506cd67a732d2009792af785ae915f610e4820c733688; retrieved 2026-09-15T10:06:36.774Z.