Enstrom F-28 and 280

The piston Enstroms are a small fleet with a short, recent record. Up to 28 October 2026, five fatal accidents in the United States since 2008 count against the F-28 and 280, with six deaths, in about 0.7 million US flights. All five came from 2019 onward, and two were the two helicopters in a single mid-air collision.

What are the Enstrom F-28 and 280?

The Enstrom company of Menominee, Michigan, flew the first F-28 in 1962 and delivered it from 1965. It is a three-seat piston helicopter with a Lycoming engine, turbocharged on later models such as the F-28F and 280FX, and a three-blade, fully articulated main rotor. The 280 Shark is the same machine with a more streamlined cabin. About 1,000 piston Enstroms have been built. The company closed its factory in January 2022; a new owner restarted it with the turbine 480B, which we treat as a separate type.

The FAA register held about 260 piston Enstroms in 2026, down from about 420 in 2008. In our records they fly private owners, small charter firms, farms and flight schools. Our estimate, mostly from NTSB airframe hours, puts the average one at less than half the flying of the average piston helicopter.

How the score is built

We count fatal accidents in the United States since 2008, from the NTSB database, against US flights estimated from the FAA aircraft register and the FAA General Aviation survey, split between types by how much each type flies, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records and partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers (OpenSky, 2019 to 2022).

With five accidents and few flights, the likely range is wide and confidence is low; the record of the other piston helicopters carries real weight in the score. The Enstrom shares its place with the Robinson R44, just behind the Schweizer 300 and behind the Robinson R22, and ahead of the MD 500, but its likely range overlaps theirs, so it is not clearly apart from them. See our method and the helicopter ranking.

The five accidents

Of the five, four were private or work flights and one a training flight. By occurrence type: two mid-air collisions (one collision, counted once for each helicopter), two engine failures and one unknown cause. Three have no established cause yet.

28 December 2025, near Hammonton, New Jersey. A 280C and an F-28A flying close together, as in formation, after leaving Hammonton Municipal Airport touched and fell about 1.5 miles southwest of it. Each pilot was alone on board, and both died. The NTSB has not given a cause.

7 June 2022, near Greenville, Ohio. About 15 minutes after the owner and a student pilot took off in his farm's F28F, it came down almost vertically onto the driveway of their home and burned. Both died; the NTSB found no fault and could not say why.

23 June 2020, near Hayden, Idaho. Just after take-off from Coeur d'Alene on a training flight, a 280FX lost all engine power at low height after detonation in two cylinders. It hit the ground while avoiding power lines and burned. The student died; the instructor was badly hurt.

25 October 2019, near Jordan Valley, Oregon. Flying low over high desert, a private 280F lost part of its engine power because a worn intake hose had collapsed; it dropped, yawed and hit the ground. The pilot died; his pilot-rated passenger was badly hurt.

What owners and students can check

• Formation flying needs a briefing, agreed spacing and practice; never close up on another helicopter informally.
• Have the engine, its intake hoses and ducts checked by a shop that knows the type: detonation and a collapsed hose caused the two engine failures.
• Before a lesson or a ride, look up the N-number in the NTSB CAROL database and ask who maintains the helicopter.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show EN28 for the piston models. Look for the wide, rounded cabin with three seats side by side, three main rotor blades and skids. The turbine 480, a separate type, shows EN48.