Obviously I spend too little time at the airport. Despite being based at LOAN, I have only now learned of the turboprop trainer Diamond is developing just across the runway 
. According to this video
the maiden flight was yesterday.
It’s really astonishing that Diamond manages to pull of all these projects (DA-50, DA-62 …) within such a short time.
That’s amazing!
It’s really astonishing that Diamond manages to pull of all these projects (DA-50, DA-62 …) within such a short time.
In this case, they probably get paid for the R&D out of some money set aside by a customer?
It’s probably planned to be military trainer – maybe as a competition to Pilatus.
And they’d not be doing it if they weren’t aware of some air force planning an acquisition in that corner. Their own, like as not: the Austrian Air Force currently uses PC-7’s delivered in 1983.
Austrian Air Force currently uses PC-7’s delivered in 1983.
They were delivered through 1985, which makes them the third-newest aviation asset (after Typhoon and Blackhawk) in our woefully underfunded army 
.
I therefore don’t think the PC-7 is slated for replacement. Getting enough money to replace the Saab 105 jet trainers and the OH58/Alouette helicopters, which all date from the 60’s and 70’s, has priority.
Here’s the link to the Diamond site with information about the DART-450.
Click Here
It says: “…2-seat civilian and military trainer with a sidestick and pneumatic ejection seats”.
If the Royal Air Force replaced their Tucanos with this, at least they would have a fleet which is all the same length, whereas reportedly the Tucano fleet varies in length by up to 20cm! I recall one pilot telling me that some of them would have more “interesting” spin behaviour than others, due to the size variations. They were built at an Irish shipyard.
Would something like this be any good as a tourer? It should be really fuel efficient. I guess one has very little room to move about and is there space for any luggage?
It may not ever be civilian-certified which would make it useless for civilian flying around Europe.
There is a substantial number of civilian PC-7’s, many on the HB-reg. AFAIK these are not experimentals.
blueline wrote:
It’s really astonishing that Diamond manages to pull of all these projects (DA-50, DA-62 …) within such a short time.
This reminds me of Grob in Germany who did similar stuff until not so long ago. From gliders to training aircraft, research planes, military trainers and in the end a bizjet of their own. Much more than they could swallow. I hope that Diamond is not going the same way…
This turboprop trainer is really not something the world has been waiting for, there are dozens and dozens of similar ones that are competing (or have been competing until the bankruptancy of their makers) for a very small market that will get even smaller in the future.
And regarding civilian use? How many two-seaters which cost 1000 Euros per hour to operate can you sell worldwide? How many has Pilatus sold? Will that number cover the certification cost alone? I (think I) know the answer.
I thought Grob got sunk by their jet project – the one which crashed killing a test pilot and a customer.
They dropped the G140TP without getting anywhere with it and I doubt they spent all that much on it.
