FOUR ENSTROM 280FX piston-engine helicopters were recently delivered to the Pakistan Army Aviation Corps. The helicopters comprised N827NE (c/n 2148), N827PE (c/n 2149), N829TW (c/n 2150) and N829QH (c/n 2151), the first two of which were cancelled from the US register on February 12 on export to Pakistan, while the remaining two were cancelled on February 15.
Enstrom Helicopters had announced on February 27 that it had completed hand over of four of these helicopters to Global Services and Solutions of Pakistan, a local Enstrom agent based in Rawalpindi, following a week-long inspection process at the factory in Menominee, Michigan, which was completed during the week of February 5. Although the company did not identify the end user, a photograph of one of them issued with the press release showed it to be carrying a Pakistani military roundel and Army Aviation Corps serial 786-126.
The order from the local distributor had been announced in September 2017, but the Army had not been revealed as the planned operator. These are the first of the type sold in Pakistan, but it is unknown whether the Army plans to order any further examples. Tracy Biegler, CEO of Enstrom, said: “We feel the Enstrom 280FX is the ideal training helicopter to operate in the difficult climate conditions of Pakistan,” indicating that the Army obviously intends to use them for training of rotary-wing aircrew.
