Cirrus Design Corp. SR22 incident near Reno, Nevada, July 15, 2007
On July 15, 2007 at about 11:17 pm local time, a Cirrus Design Corp. SR22, registered N254SR, was involved in an incident near Reno, Nevada (Reno/Tahoe International airport). It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The failure of the left turbocharger as a result of a production defect in the unit's compressor due to a machining process change by the manufacturer that was made without formal documentation or substantiation.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- July 15, 2007 · about 11:17 pm local time
- Place
- Reno, Nevada · Reno/Tahoe International · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cirrus Design Corp. SR22
- Registration
- N254SR · registry record · serial 2537
- Damage
- Not recorded
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
During cruise flight at 17,000 feet mean sea level, the left turbocharger failed, resulting in a partial engine power loss. The pilot declared an emergency and executed an uneventful landing at an alternate airport. Examination of the turbocharger revealed the turbine wheel was separated from the shaft. Three prior incidents involving similar failures of this part number turbocharger had occurred in May 2007. Examination of the failed turbochargers from all four incidents revealed that all of the units displayed the same discrepancy: the compressor wheel backface perpendicularity to the bore exceeded the maximum permissible value. The source of the perpendicularity error was traced to a change, made in March 2007, to the machining process for the compressor wheel. The change involved a switch from a two-machine process to a three-machine process. This production change was made without formal documentation or coordination with other functional areas; no formal first-article inspection for the new process was performed. In April 2007, the machine shop returned to the original two-machine process. The compressor wheels manufactured during the time that the three-machine process was in use were installed in turbochargers produced from March 20 to April 20, 2007, including the four turbochargers involved in the subject incident and the three May 2007 incidents. The manufacturer issued service bulletins in July 2007 identifying the affected turbochargers by serial number and mandating their replacement. In August 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an airworthiness directive requiring compliance with the service bulletins.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: private
- Ratings: single-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 180 hours in all; 48 in this make and model
- Last flight review: May 3, 2007
- Medical certificate: Class 3 (with waivers/limitations)
- Seat: left
- Injury: no injuries
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 48 hours
- Maximum gross weight: 3,400 lb
- Seats: 4
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Teledyne Continental Motors IO-550-N (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: CCR Concord CA at 10:10 pm
- Destination: RNO Reno NV
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 16L, 9,000 ft by 150 ft
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 200° at 9 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: broken clouds at 20,000 ft; scat at 15,000 ft
- Temperature: 93°F (34°C), dew point 37°F (3°C)
- Altimeter: 30.02 inHg
- Observation at 10:56 pm from RNO
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Other NTSB records under N254SR the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.