- Date
- October 2, 1991, 17:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Evergreen, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N552HEnstrom F-28C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19911002044489A
- Case key
- 18174
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
In flight encounter with a sudden downdraft. A factor was: the pilot's lack of total experience in aircraft type.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot said he lifted the helicopter off the ground but before translatonal lift was achieved, he encountered a sudden downdraft. The pilot made a controlled crash between trees in mountainous terrain.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N552H
- Reported as
- Enstrom F-28C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 347
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-E14D, 205 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- James B. Highbanks
- Registered owner
- James B. Highbanks
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 52
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 16,000 total · 80 in this make and model · 12,000 as pilot in command · 180 in the last 90 days · 42 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.