Diamond Aircraft · Twin-engine piston plane
Diamond DA42 and DA62
Is the Diamond DA42 and DA62 safe? It is not ranked yet: with 1 fatal accident counted in about 680,000 US flights since 2008, its record is too short to place it among the others: its score could be anywhere from 43 to 65.
Likely range 43 to 65
How the score is built
- Fatal accidents
- 1 in 0.68 million flights
1.5 fatal accidents per million flights. Counted: all civil flights in the United States since 2008 (private, training, charter and other), accidents and unexplained losses; not counted: accidents outside the United States or before 2008, military, test and illegal flights, sabotage, hijackings, shoot-downs and deliberate crew acts.
- Full-loss equivalents
- 0.5
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 0.68 million
Estimated flights of all kinds in the United States since 2008. Flights of all kinds in the United States (private, training, charter and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026, each counted from take-off to final landing: the hours of all US piston twins in each year (active aircraft and hours from the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey), split between types by US-registered aircraft (FAA register, 341 of this type in 2024) times how much each type flies against its class (1.79, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records, partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers in 2019-2022), at 0.92 hours per flight from ADS-B tracks: about 198 flights per registered aircraft per year in 2024. Flights and accidents outside the United States, or before 2008, are not used. Against the FAA's hours per helicopter model, this method is off by about 22% on a typical type. Uncertainty roughly ±25%.
- Technology generation
- Twin-engine piston plane
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of the other types of their generation: 11.3 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 20.4 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 71%.
- Likely range
- 43 to 65
The score is 90% likely to lie in this range, given how few accidents a type has and the error in the estimate of its flights.
- Last fatal accident
- 1 September 2022
Myflight Flight Training, Orlando, FL, United States of America: 1 of 2 people on board died.
- Aircraft destroyed
- 0
Aircraft the NTSB coded as destroyed in an accident in the United States since 2008, fatal or not, from all causes. The NTSB codes many wrecks as only substantially damaged, so the real number is higher (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Diamond DA42 and DA62 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A day of skiing1 in 830,000
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- One flight on the Diamond DA42 and DA62This aircraft1 in 260,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
1 fatal accident in the United States since 2008 counts toward the score, with 1 people on board killed.
| Date | Flight | Killed | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myflight Flight TrainingDiamond DA42 · Orlando, FL, United States of America | 1 killed / 2 on board | Waiting at the hold pad at Orlando Executive for a storm to pass before a lesson, the DA42 was flipped onto its back by a microburst with gusts to 54 knots. The student died and the instructor was badly hurt. NTSB: the crew did not judge the worsening weather well.Type: Windshear or stormNTSB docket |
The Diamond DA42 TwinStar and the larger DA62 have the thinnest US record of the small planes we rate, and that is the main thing to know. Up to 28 October 2026 we count one fatal accident on US flights since 2008, over about 0.7 million estimated flights. That one death came from a storm while the aircraft waited on the ground. Confidence is low, and the DA42 is not ranked yet among the small planes: its record is too short to place it among the others.
What is a DA42?
Diamond Aircraft of Austria first flew the DA42 in 2002 and began deliveries in 2004. It is a four-seat twin with composite airframe, low wing and T-tail, and nearly all have two diesel engines that burn jet fuel. Pilots set each engine with one power lever. The DA62, from the same maker, seats up to seven. About 1,700 of both have been built, and the FAA register shows about 340 in the US in 2024, more than three times the 2008 figure.
Flight schools and private owners fly them.
How to read a short record
Small planes are scored on US fatal accidents since 2008 and on US flights estimated from the FAA register and the FAA General Aviation survey. The survey gives flying hours for light twins as a class, and airframe hours in NTSB accident records and, to a lesser degree, ADS-B tracks from 2019 to 2022 split them between types: a DA42 flies well above the average twin, as school aircraft do, and the count takes that into account. A flight in any small plane carries far more risk than an airline flight. The method has the detail.
One event over about 0.7 million flights tells us little about the true rate, which is why the score's likely range is so wide. A type with few hours cannot prove it is safe.
The one counted US accident
On 1 September 2022, a DA42 NG was waiting at the hold pad at Orlando Executive Airport for a storm to pass before a lesson. A microburst with gusts to 54 knots flipped it onto its back. The student died and the instructor was badly hurt. The NTSB found the crew did not judge the worsening weather well. It was a training flight.
Outside the US
Fatal DA42 and DA62 accidents have happened around the world, and the US score does not count them: our data holds US accidents only. Examples are a ferry flight in Slovakia on 22 February 2023, four dead, and a training flight near Larvik, Norway, on 23 November 2021, three dead. Both investigations are closed, but foreign findings fall outside this note, which covers the US record.
Electronics, engines and the one-engine drill
Each engine is run by its own electronic control unit instead of magnetos and a mixture lever, so the electrical system matters more than in an older twin. The basic twin rule does not change: if one engine fails, the pilot must hold the minimum control speed (Vmc) or more, feather the dead propeller and climb at the best single-engine speed. The Piper Seminole note shows how that drill can go wrong in training.
Before a lesson or a trip
- Ask a school how many hours its instructors have on the DA42 itself.
- Check the fuel type with the pilot at every stop, since a diesel burns jet fuel.
- On a lesson, ask the instructor how they decide to wait out or cancel in bad weather.
- Look up the registration in the FAA register and NTSB database.
Trackers show DA42 or DA62. For a single from the same maker, see the Diamond DA40.
Questions people ask
Is the Diamond DA42 a safe plane?
Its US record is short and good. Up to 28 October 2026 our data counts one fatal accident on US flights since 2008, a storm accident on the ground, over about 0.7 million estimated flights. That is too few flights for a firm verdict, so it is not ranked yet and its likely range is wide.
Does the DA42 run on diesel?
Most do. Nearly all DA42s and every DA62 have diesel engines that burn jet fuel, each run by an electronic control unit. Check the fuel label at every refuelling, because avgas must not go into a jet-fuel engine.
How many fatal DA42 accidents happen outside the US?
Fatal DA42 and DA62 accidents have happened in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australasia and South America. They are not in the US-only score, because the flight estimate covers US flights only, and our data holds US accidents only.
What is the difference between the DA42 and the DA62?
The DA62 is the larger, newer development of the DA42, with more seats and more power. Both are composite twins with a T-tail, and we rate them as one family.
Is the DA42 a good plane for multi-engine training?
Many schools use it. Whatever the type, a good course includes engine-out drills at a safe height with an instructor who has many hours on the aircraft.
Sources
- 1.NTSB docket: Diamond DA42, Orlando, Florida, 1 September 2022 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 2.ASN record: JetAge Diamond DA42 Twin Star, Trencianske Stankovce, Slovakia, 22 February 2023 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 3.ASN record: Pilot Flight Academy Diamond DA42 NG, near Larvik, Norway, 23 November 2021 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 4.SafetyScorer exposure model: FAA aircraft register, FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey, OpenSky ADS-B, NTSB airframe hours (opens in a new tab)Flights of all kinds in the United States (private, training, charter and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026, each counted from take-off to final landing: the hours of all US piston twins in each year (active aircraft and hours from the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey), split between types by US-registered aircraft (FAA register, 341 of this type in 2024) times how much each type flies against its class (1.79, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records, partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers in 2019-2022), at 0.92 hours per flight from ADS-B tracks: about 198 flights per registered aircraft per year in 2024. Flights and accidents outside the United States, or before 2008, are not used. Against the FAA's hours per helicopter model, this method is off by about 22% on a typical type. Uncertainty roughly ±25%.