June 12, 2025
An unauthorised manoeuvre which occurred during a training flight from Wellcamp Airport in February risked structural damage to the light plane involved, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report has found.
The report, released on June 6, says that 63km east of Kingaroy, a flight instructor took over the controls of the Diamond DA40 aircraft, and “on impulse” attempted a manoeuvre known as a “wing over”.
The ATSB found the instructor had not been trained to conduct this type of manoeuvre.
During the incident, the aircraft rolled through 360 degrees, exceeding its 60 degree bank limit. It also went faster than its “never exceed airspeed” by 20 knots.
At one point, the aircraft was “steeply nose down”.
The instructor reduced power to idle to recover from the dive.
The report found that as the aircraft’s nose slowly rose, its speed also very briefly increased to a maximum of 198 knots, 20 knots above its 178 knot limit.
“The instructor then climbed the aircraft back up to an altitude of about 5000 ft and the student advised the instructor of the speed exceeding 178 knots. The instructor then conducted an inspection of the airframe visible from the cabin and did not identify any defects,” the report stated.
The instructor and student had been conducting stall and recovery training.
The training resumed after the manoeuvre and the plane landed safely back at Wellcamp Airport without incident.
A later structural assessment found the aircraft had not been damaged.
- External link: ATSB Report
