Graceful nose; two small teardrop look-down windows at the pilot's feet are distinctively Enstrom (the Fairchild 1100, by comparison, has large rhomboid look-downs). Model F-28s have a huge side window filling the door frame; on 280s, the window stops at the cabin midline. The 280's nose extends gracefully; the F28 is snubbier.

Enstrom, a small company founded by the aviator and inventor Rudolf Enstrom, had produced about 1000 helicopters by 1991, and has been owned at different times by two corporations and a group of private investors, including F. Lee Bailey, the celebrity lawyer. Recent models have improved passenger comfort and reduced noise emissions, but the aircraft look similar to older models.