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Diamond factory visit

A few pictures: (unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures in the factory)


EGTR

Thank you very much for the feedback.

Jean
EBST, Belgium

Looks great @nokicky
So down the ultimate question: how much would the plane you flew cost?

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

MedEwok wrote:

So down the ultimate question: how much would the plane you flew cost?

With all the options (de-ice, air conditioning, radar, etc.) it’s about €1.15m.

I would love to hear from someone who has owned one (or another Diamond aircraft), has it lived up to expectations? How were Diamond post purchase?

For me it seems like a better aircraft for Europe than a SR22 because it uses Jet A1 and I prefer the second engine for night / IMC / water / mountains etc. Anyone have any thoughts?

EGTR

nokicky wrote:

Diamond Austria are getting very close to finishing the DA50, in fact we saw one having avionics installed. This is going to be a great plane and will use the larger SMA engine

Will there be an avgas version as well, or only diesel? (not that I can afford either, just for curiosity)

ESMK, Sweden

nokicky wrote:

With all the options (de-ice, air conditioning, radar, etc.) it’s about €1.15m.

Whew! Well I guess I’ll have to wait at least 25 years or so then until I can afford one on my doctor’s salary. Too bad, because the spacy cabin would probably make it ideal for the mid-range family trips I have in mind after getting my PPL.

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

You can get a nice TBM700C2 for that money

and it will totally outclass the DA62 in every category, while having the same runway capability.

Admittedly this is not a valid comparison because

  • the TBM fuel burn will cost very roughly 2x more*
  • it is always easy to drag out a used plane which costs the same as a new one and does much more
  • the TBM needs HPA (unless N-reg, and before April 2019) which is extra training/hassle

but IMHO Diamond are not aiming at the private owner market. Currently very few DA42s are privately owned. There are people who pay that much for a new SR22 (and many buy a new SR22 every year or two) but there are other factors involved there and Diamond are not in that market.

* maybe not… in the days of the Thielert engine “business”, FTO owners said they could run a TBM700 for what the DA42 was costing them!

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Arne wrote:

Will there be an avgas version as well, or only diesel? (not that I can afford either, just for curiosity)

I think so. They still seem to be working out the engine options, though a Lycomming version is in the roadmap..

EGTR

Peter wrote:

but IMHO Diamond are not aiming at the private owner market. Currently very few DA42s are privately owned.

I think that’s definitely true of the DA42, it seems like the DA62 has been designed for the private market though. Almost all the serial numbers in the factory were destined for private owners.

Peter wrote:

You can get a nice TBM700C2 for that money

It’s a really tough call! Especially because it’s not a direct comparisons…

There are some other advantages of the Diamond too:
- It’s an incredibly easy to fly aircraft so for someone who isn’t flying professionally you could argue it’s safe. The avionics have come a long way in 15 years and the engine management is trivial, the pilot would have very little to think about in an emergency / stressful situation.
- It can be flown at low altitude with very little performance penalty. For many pilots (me included) the ability to practically fly VFR is really nice, I enjoy taking friends for low level scenic flights or do sort trips around the UK.

But then if you want to do all that you could get a G3 Turbo for almost half the price.. Or a PA32R for even less…

And if you do start looking at Turboprops the Twin Commander, TBM700 and Meridian Jetprop all look interesting in their own ways.

@peter given the choose of a new DA62 or anything else (for the flying you do) what would you go for? Running costs not included ;)

EGTR

I don’t want to derail this thread any more so I won’t say

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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