A Diamond DA40 exceeded airspeed, bank angle and pitch limits after an instructor attempted to demonstrate a wingover, a manoeuvre they had not been trained in, an ATSB investigation has found.
The Flight Training Adelaide instructor and student pilot had taken off from Wellcamp Airport, near Toowoomba in southern Queensland on 12 February 2025, for a navigation training flight that also included stall and upset recovery training, the investigation report details.
About 90 minutes into the flight, when at an altitude of about 6,300 ft near Jimna, the instructor pilot took control and, acting on impulse and without briefing the student, attempted a wingover.
During the manoeuvre, the bank angle quickly exceeded the aircraft’s 60° bank angle limitation before continuing beyond inverted and the aircraft’s pitch became steeply nose down.
“The instructor responded to the nose down attitude by reducing power to idle, but then prioritised minimising G load during the recovery from the dive,” ATSB Director Transport Safety Stuart Macleod said.
“While this kept G load well below the airframe maximum, by not increasing pitch more positively, the pilot allowed the aircraft’s speed to increase rapidly, exceeding the airframe limit.”
Flight data showed the aircraft reached a maximum indicated airspeed of 198 kt, above the aircraft’s 178 kt VNE ‘never exceed’ speed.
Over approximately 36 seconds from initiation of the manoeuvre to recovery, the aircraft descended over 2,000 ft to an altitude of 4,159 ft above mean sea level, about 2,600 ft above ground level.
“Wingovers are permitted in the DA40, but it was a manoeuvre the instructor had not been trained to perform,” Mr Macleod said.
“As such, this incident underlines to pilots the importance of not attempting unfamiliar manoeuvres without the appropriate training, so as to reduce the likelihood of mishandling and to be prepared to respond appropriately if things do not go as planned.”
After landing, while the instructor was aware the aircraft had exceeded its maximum airframe speed and they confirmed the aircraft had no further bookings for the rest of the day, they did not mark the aircraft as unavailable or endorse its maintenance release at that time.
After subsequently recognising the incident needed to be reported, the instructor marked the aircraft as unserviceable early the following morning.
“In this case an inspection determined that the aircraft was not damaged from the overspeed, but it is important that all exceeded limitations are entered onto the maintenance release and reported quickly to ensure other pilots are not exposed to the risk of operating a damaged aircraft,” Mr Macleod concluded.
Read the final report: Airframe overspeed involving Diamond DA40, VH-EQF, 63 km east of Kingaroy Airport, Queensland, on 12 February 2025