NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA11LA114
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
A total loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Factual narrative
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On January 14, 2011, at 1434 eastern standard time, a Diamond Aircraft DA20-A1, N840DF, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following a total loss of engine power after takeoff from Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP), Pompano Beach, Florida. The certificated private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight, which was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was to perform three touch-and-go takeoffs and landings at PMP. She observed no discrepancies during her preflight inspection of the airplane, and stated that the airplane contained 9 gallons of fuel. Upon starting, the engine ran roughly, so she shut down the engine and restarted it. The engine ran smoothly on the second start attempt. The pilot departed runway 10 and performed the first landing, with no anomalies noted. The pilot then applied full engine power to take off again. Approximately 100 feet above the runway, the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot performed a forced landing to a grassy area adjacent to the runway, and during the landing roll, the airplane's nose landing gear struck a berm, which spun the airplane, collapsed the nose landing gear, and resulted in substantial damage to the engine firewall. The airplane's horizontal stabilizer was also substantially damaged. The engine was retained for examination at a later date.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land. Her most recent Federal Aviation Administration second-class medical certificate was issued in October, 2009. Her most recent flight review was conducted in October, 2010, in the accident airplane make and model. She reported 83 hours total flight time at the time of the accident, of which 79 hours were in the accident airplane make and model.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
The airplane was manufactured in 1995, and was equipped with a 81-hp Rotax 912-F3 reciprocating engine. The airplane's most recent annual inspection was completed on December 5, 2010, at an aircraft total time (TT) of 2,908.3 hours, with 1,450.1 hours since the most recent engine overhaul. According to the inspection entry in the airplane's maintenance log, engine maintenance performed during the annual inspection included installing new spark plugs and removing, repairing, and reinstalling the #3 exhaust stack. The engine's oil filter was cut open and inspected, with no contamination found.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
The 1453 weather observation at PMP included winds from 60 degrees at 10 knots, 10 miles visibility, few clouds at 4,500 feet, scattered clouds at 6,000 feet, temperature 19 degrees C, dew point -1 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 30.22 inches of mercury.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On February 10, 2011, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector performed an operational test of the engine. He stated that the engine started on the first attempt, and ran for 15 minutes with no malfunctions or anomalies. The purpose of the flight was to perform three touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. The pilot observed no discrepancies during her preflight inspection of the airplane or during the first takeoff and landing. During the second takeoff, about 100 feet above the runway, the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot performed a forced landing to a grassy area adjacent to the runway, and, during the landing roll, the airplane's nose landing gear struck a berm. During a postaccident operational test, the engine started on the first attempt and ran for 15 minutes with no anomalies. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Not determined-Not determined-(general)-(general)-Unknown/Not determined - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2011_ERA11LA114.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
The Value of Strong Partnerships to Build a Successful Aviation Maintenance Career Pathway Program for Transitioning Military Service Members
The aerospace industry is competing with other industries for a qualified workforce, and many of those competing industries are investing heavily in creating workforce development pipelines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗