My comments are based on over 11,000 hours in service at the ATO, hopefully this is helpful. There are two privately owned DA-40s on the airfield and the owners regard them as ‘keepers’. The DA42 plus the dedicated simulators have been excellent business assets – just do the math.
aart hopefully will report on his empirical experience.
I am saying nothing about the quality of the aircraft, they are very fine machines, just about Diamond’s attitude towards its customers.
Anyway, with the sale of Diamond Canada (will be responsible for DA20, DA40, DA62, Diamond Austria keeps DA42 and DA50) to Chinese the things are (maybe) changing …
I sort-of wish they make a DA30 (2 grown-ups + serious luggage) with the new Rotax 915 (once it is debugged, if that ever happens) as a practical and efficient cross-country machine. Fat chance for that.
Isn’t the DA62 part of what they sold of to the Chinese?
The DA62 is an impressive machine. It flies very well, the fit and finish is superb, and the extra room/load carrying capability vs an SR22 or DA42 is significant. However, a serious load-carrying capability only becomes available (legally 
) if you go for the 2300 kg MTOM version.
Very good (and necessary) move by Diamond to offer a keypad controlled G1000.
I still think there is a market for private operators that is attractive for Diamond. Maybe not huge, but Diamond is not a huge factory anyway. The DA62 is the only game in town for people who have money and want a modern and roomy twin. @what_next: Admittedly I know very little about the air-taxi market, and clearly the DA42 is small and basically not an option for 3 pax, but would you not think that a DA62 could make the needle move? It can be offered economically and can thus open up a new market segment; people who cannot afford a jet, but do not wish to sit in an old, shaking and rattling Seneca. I agree with you that a DA62 for training does not make sense, but how about an operator that combines training and air-taxi? I believe an Israeli outfit has taken delivery of a DA62 to do just that.
As to service: Let’s make a distinction between local service and factory support.
My, anecdotal, experience on local service is good. My service centre in Spain has enough knowledge of the aircraft and they are very responsive. Also, they go the extra mile to defend my interests at the factory if needed. I also know that the service centre in the Netherlands knows what they are doing and are very responsive as well.
Same for factory support. I have seen how they supported my local service centre. Parts supply has never been a problem. And I have appreciated that Diamond rectified a defect free of charge way beyond warranty expiry. (Had to do with bubbles on some of the painted surfaces, and metal parts that rusted, especially in salty climates. Since then Diamond recommends that such parts need to be protected, and once you keep on doing that all is fine).
However, there is indeed a group of owners that feel that Diamond has orphaned their (Lycoming and “Thielert”) DA40’s, particularly by not updating the G1000. Also there is criticism that Diamond does not seem willing to evolve the design (tweak aerodynamics, add anti-ice?)
DA62 type certificate moving to Canada (China). Can either be positive or negative I suppose, no idea.
It would be interesting to hear more about the DA50. There is an old wikipedia page about the plane, but not much more.
Any additional rumors about it?
I’m contemplating of buying (co-owning) a DA40NG and this would be maybe more interesting plane. Maybe.
Pehu wrote:
It would be interesting to hear more about the DA50.
We saw it on our factory visit, it was in the final stages of production. The wings were attached to the fuselage and the interior + most of the avionics were done, they hadn’t fitted the engine yet. It’s a hansom aircraft.
We did probe a little to try and get more details, here’s all we could find out:
I think this is going to be a great machine.
Interestingly, now that the DA62 is going to Canada all the production capacity in Austria can be freed up for the DA50…
I suspect they may want to use the Aero Friedrichshafen to announce news on the DA50.
nokicky wrote:
SMA (I hope the SR460).
Will that engine not give the same problems that Cessna was facing on the 182 Diesel project?
I am not sure whether anybody knows what exactly Cessna was facing on the 182 diesel project. When I have asked reps at exhibitions about this stuff I always got totally different stories from the engine maker and the airframe maker. IMHO Cesna dropped the 182 project because diesel has almost no market in the USA, which makes it very hard work to get a return.
In that case they could have chosen to market the diesel 182 parallel with the existing Lycoming version.
They dropped the Diesel and then returned to the Lycoming version.
The market research must have been concluded before the development project.
