WPR17LA099 · Diamond Aircraft IND Gmbh DA 40 NG
CTC Aviation Leasing (us) Diamond Aircraft IND Gmbh DA 40 NG · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) during an emergency descent
From Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR) to Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR17LA099
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Diamond Aircraft IND Gmbh DA 40 NG
- Aircraft type
- Diamond DA-40
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N154BY
- Operator
- CTC Aviation Leasing (us)
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR), Goodyear, AZTo Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR), Goodyear, AZ
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Emergency descent
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Fluids/miscellaneous hardware
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The student pilot had been signed off for a solo instructional flight. He performed the preflight check, including a check of the engine control unit (ECU), and noted no discrepancies. The run-up and initial takeoff were normal. However, during the takeoff climb out, the student pilot noted an engine power change followed by an ECU A and ECU B failure annunciation. The student pilot was able to land in an open field and impacted several drainage ditches, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing. Inspection of the engine revealed that the hose that connects the air inlet to the turbocharger inlet was found to have de-laminated or collapsed. The loss of engine power was likely due to a partial vacuum in the turbo inlet and prevented the turbo from supplying the correct air inlet pressure to the engine, thus reducing power output.
The investigation found that a generic air induction hose had been installed on the accident airplane that was not part number specific. The Diamond illustrated parts breakdown calls for a specific part number for two flexible induction hoses. The operator reported that they inspected their fleet of airplanes and replaced the generic hoses with Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. (DAI) hose.
Probable cause
Loss of engine power due to the installation of an improper air induction hose, which failed and prevented sufficient air intake to the turbocharger.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR17LA099
- Event ID
- 20170420X55710
- Case number
- WPR17LA099
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 743a86e08d8d9f1ae13e3a0d085c1b50c6537318170764413fe8163c187d7f78; retrieved 2026-09-16T05:11:03.562Z.