Event DEN89LA120

1989-05-17 COLORADO SPGS, Colorado, United States Airport · COS Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N624H

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

ENSTROM HELICOPTER CORP 280C

Year of manufacture

1977 · 12 years old at event

TCDS

H1CE · ENSTROM HELICOPTER CORP THE

Engine

LYCOMING HI0-360 SER (205 hp)

Seats / Engines

3 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19770418

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A825C8

Registrant of record

NEED FOR SPEED INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N624H Enstrom 280C Minor

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR THE WIND CONDITIONS BY THE PILOT. THE HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE AND WIND CONDITIONS WERE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.

Factual narrative

AFTER RETURNING FROM A LOCAL PHOTO FLT, THE PLT MADE AN APCH TO A HOVER LANDING NEAR THE APCH END OF RWY 17. HE WAS THEN CLEARED TO CROSS THE RWY & PROCEED (SOUTH-SOUTHEAST) TO THE INTENDED PARKING AREA. AS HE STARTED FORWARD & BEGAN A CLIMB, HE NOTICED WHAT HE BELIEVED WAS A PARTIAL POWER LOSS & HE INITIATED A HOVERING AUTOROTATION. THE HELICOPTER TOUCHED DOWN WITH FORWARD SPEED & SLID TO A STOP, THEN ROCKED BACKWARD & TO THE LEFT, DAMAGING THE MAIN & TAIL ROTOR BLADES. A POST ACDNT ENG RUN WAS MADE, BUT NO REASON WAS FOUND FOR THE RPRTD POWER LOSS. THE PREVAILING WIND WAS FROM 340 DEG AT 10 KTS. THE PLT RPRTD THE WIND WAS GUSTING TO 20 KTS. DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS CALCULATED TO BE 7300 FT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_DEN89LA120.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Beyond the agency record

Search this event elsewhere.

Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.

TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press

Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.

NTSB CAROL Agency ↗

Official agency record + docket.

NTSB Docket Agency ↗

Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.

Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗

Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).

Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗

Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.

Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗

Gold-standard aviation incident blog.