Enstrom F-28/280/480

This long running line of three, four and five place light helicopters dates back to the late 1950s and remains in production. The Enstrom Helicopter Corporation was first formed in 1959, and the three place F-28 was its first product. The first F-28 prototype made its maiden flight on November 12 1960, with the production prototype of the F-28 flying in May 1962. Since that time numerous developments of the basic design have been built. These include the F-28A which appeared in 1968; the T-28 powered by a Garrett AiResearch TSE36-1 turbine engine, which flew in 1968, but was not taken into production, the Model 280 Shark from 1973, an improved version with a reprofiled airframe which supplemented the F-28A in production; and the turbocharged F-28C and 280C, which were certificated in 1975. The prototype for the Allison (now Rolls-Royce) 250 turboshaft powered 480 five seater and TH-28 three seat trainer first flew in 1989 after a proof of concept 280FX testbed powered by an Allison 250-C20W began test flying the previous year. The 480 was certificated in June 1993, the TH-28, which Enstrom unsuccessfully entered into a recent US Army competition for a new pilot training helicopter, was certificated in 1992 and is aimed at training and light patrol work. Current Enstrom production models are the F-28F Falcon which first appeared in 1981; the FLIR pod equipped F-28F-P Sentinel which is optimised for police work; the three seat 280FX Shark which was certificated in early 1988; and the turbine powered 480 and TH-28.

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.