- Date
- April 20, 2025, 11:24 local (18:24 UTC)
- Place
- Oakland, CA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N22QTDiamond Aircraft Ind DA 40
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250420009349A
- Case key
- 200049
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control during takeoff with a left quartering crosswind.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was performing a takeoff in a free-castering nosewheel equipped airplane, with a left quartering crosswind. As the airplane accelerated, he utilized right rudder to maintain runway centerline. When the airplane became airborne, it drifted to the right, over the grass area adjacent to the runway. The pilot applied left aileron to counteract the right drift, and the airplane pitched nose down. As he applied back pressure on the control stick, the stall warning horn activated, and he neutralized the flight controls. The airplane subsequently yawed left, and the pilot applied right aileron and rudder control inputs to correct the yaw and continued the takeoff. Following an uneventful landing, a postflight examination of the airplane revealed both wings and the rudder had struck the ground, which resulted in substantial damage to the rudder. At the time of the accident, the pilot was departing runway 28R, and the wind was from 290° at 7 knots. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N22QT
- Reported as
- Diamond Aircraft Ind DA 40
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 40.491
- Built
- 2005
- Engine
- lycoming IO360, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Alameda Aero Club
- Registered owner
- Alameda Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Airport
- KOAK · Oakland International, runway 33, 3,376 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Electronic primary flight display, Auto-pilot, ADS-B
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 31, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 408 total · 4 in this make and model · 51 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- KOAK, 1 nm away
- METAR
- KOAK 201853Z 29007KT 10SM SCT250 15/09 A3011 RMK AO2 SLP194 T01500089
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 11, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 821 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.