Enstrom Helicopters out of business

After almost 64 years of operations Enstrom Helicopters is forced to cease its activities on 21 January 2021. The sad news was announced in a press release by the company’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Dennis Martin. The step is the result of several financial difficulties. These have made the owners decide to direct the company to declare a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Founded on 22 December 1959 by Rudy Enstrom, Enstrom Helicopter Corporation manufactured a complete line of helicopters. The three-seat, piston-powered F28F and 280FX are popular training, sport, and light commercial aircraft.

The larger turbine-powered 480B is a three-place advanced trainer and patrol aircraft, or it is sold as a three to five place executive transport. For law enforcement applications Enstrom produced a specialized variant of the 480B, known as the Guardian, and the F28F, called the Sentinel. Through the years Enstrom has produced more than 1100 helicopters of the various models.

Military operators of Enstrom helicopters can mainly be found in South America (Model 280) and the Far East (Model 480) They have not become very popular in Europe, with the only exception being the Czech Republic, which operates four 480B at CLV LOM Pardubice.

In the press release the possibility of a future touch-and-go of the company is not ruled out. Some investors may have already expressed their interest in the assets of Enstrom, but time will tell!

Photo of Enstrom 480B serial 0459 at Pardubice by Manolito Jaarsma on 27 May 2019 (Scramble archive)