Enstrom F-28A
N173 is an Enstrom F-28A, a rotorcraft with a piston engine (a helicopter or multicopter), built in 1974. It has 3 seats. It is registered to co-owned owners in Grosse Ile, Michigan. The registration is valid: it was issued on January 30, 2023 and expires on January 31, 2030. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for normal, dated June 12, 1974.
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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map
Aircraft
- Maker
- Enstrom
- Model
- F-28A · all F-28As and related versions
- Built of
- steel tube and aluminiumA welded steel-tube frame carries the loads, with aluminium (and some fibreglass) skins over it. A welded steel-tube frame under aluminium and fibreglass skins. This is how the Enstrom F-28 family is built; the FAA does not record construction for each aircraft, and the type certificate data sheet is the authority for this one.
- Serial number
- 218
- Type
- RotorcraftFAA type of aircraft code 6 (the FAA's broad category for the airframe). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Power
- Piston (reciprocating)FAA type of engine code 1 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes, 1 motor · Lycoming I0360 SER · 180 hp
- Seats
- 3
- Year built
- 1974
- Cruising speed
- 75 mph
- Transponder code
- A12451 (octal 50222121)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- January 30, 2023
- Expires
- January 31, 2030
- Last FAA action
- January 30, 2023
- Airworthiness
- StandardFAA airworthiness class code 1 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · NormalFAA certificate purpose code N (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · June 12, 1974
- FAA region
- Great LakesFAA region code C (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00600791
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Shafer Robert T
- Type
- Co-ownedFAA type of owner code 4 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Address
- 9355 Island Dr
Grosse Ile, MI 48138-1426 - Co-owners
- Shafer Susan A T
Owners can ask the FAA to withhold their name and address from public files. When they do, those fields are blank here as well. How that works.
Documents on file 0
No bills of sale, loans or other documents are indexed against this tail number.
Earlier use of this number 1
Connections how N173 links to the rest of the register
- Enstrom F-28 147 registered
- Enstrom 215 aircraft on the register
- Built of steel tube and aluminium · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Lycoming IO-360 series 8,561 aircraft with this engine series · 180 hp
- Type certificate H1CE · held by Enstrom Helicopter CORP the
- Grosse Ile, MI 32 aircraft registered in this town
- Michigan 7,225 aircraft registered
- FAA orders naming the Enstrom F-28 40 airworthiness directives
- Failure reports filed on the Enstrom F-28 58 reports since 1995
- Approved modifications for the Enstrom F-28 24 supplemental type certificates
- FAA orders naming the Lycoming IO-360 series 42 airworthiness directives
- Failure reports on the Lycoming IO-360 series 39 reports since 1995
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N173.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N173, read the way a buyer, lender or insurer reads it: FAA registration, prior tail numbers keyed on the serial number, reuse of the tail number, recent registry filings, and the NTSB accident record under this and every earlier registration.
Valid registration to Shafer Robert T, a co-owned, certificate issued January 30, 2023, expires January 31, 2030. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for normal, dated June 12, 1974, consistent with the 1974 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 218 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N173 was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Schempp-Hirth K. G NIMBUS II (serial 27, cancelled May 16, 1996). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]
No bills of sale, loans or releases have reached the registry in recent weeks. The index covers only recent filings; older liens are in the records file. [3]
1 NTSB record under N173: Accident on May 30, 1993 at Buena Vista, CO: serious injuries, substantial damage. Details below. [4]
These live in the FAA aircraft records file (every document ever filed against the aircraft) and, for larger aircraft, the International Registry. Part of the full report.
AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.
NTSB records 1
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Schempp-Hirth NIMBUS II · operated under 091
FAILURE TO FOLLOW PROCEDURES AND DIRECTIVES WHEN OPERATING THE FLAPS.
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of October 27, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 27, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 27, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through September 30, 2026. data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/basic-search
This automated check reads the public federal record. Nothing here is a legal opinion, an appraisal or a statement about the aircraft's condition; a CLEAR line is a statement about the searched record, not the aircraft.
Source: FAA Civil Aviation Registry, Releasable Aircraft Database, October 27, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data