Looking for pireps on the older da40 diamond. Cruise speeds and handling characteristics.
brian];1855446 said:One of my favorite aircraft. A similar aircraft (to me) is the AA5B.
Ron,
If you're looking to buy then be aware, like Flying Viking mentioned, that the wings are quite long, over 39' I believe. I have a friend with a DA40 and it took her quite some time to find a T-hangar with a wide enough door to accommodate the wingspan...along with "comfort zones" on either side. There are always community hangars, and that's where she kept it temporarily, but she wanted her own hangar like most of us do. She finally found one with a 42' door...still not overly generous.
You don't really need a "margin for comfort" you just need lead lines painted down for the tires to roll on. Plenty of DA-40s out there in hangars with a typical 40' door.
Interesting that you draw that comparison considering that on the surface they seem so different (glider-sized wings vs. stubby wing, wasp waist vs. slab sides, stick vs. yoke, etc).
Yeah, we all know that gods can do things that most mere mortals can't. But 3" of clearance? Really? Some of us haven't been dealing with 3" all our lives to be that good with small dimensions.
brian];1856143 said:Negating the yoke versus stick difference, the control forces seem similar. Entrance is from either side. Similar performance. Both fun rides.
With lines on the pavement to track the wheels on, it requires no God like attributes, just the ability to see lines and make sure the wheels are on them. It's pretty damn simple and there's a whole bunch of people who successfully use this technique. As long as the door didn't shrink or the wings grow since last time it went through on the lines, it won't this time either.
I'm going to disagree with this. Both the DA20 and DA40 have a castering nose wheel, and it's /very/ easy to get the tail swinging.
I have my XLS in a 45' hangar. One of my hangar neighbors has theirs in a 48'. I tried putting mine in a 42' once (effectively 41' because door locking mechanisms were at wing height) and we needed wing walkers.
The only way I've seen smaller work is with the lines painted down, and pulling with a winch in the back.
Incidentally, to the original question, there are multiple generations of Diamonds each one having different feature sets and speeds. My XLS has the bubble canopy, WAAS, Garmin autopilot, TAWS, SVT, TAS, the hartzell composite prop, and trues 140-148ktas at 7-8k msl. We love it.
Older ones without the Powerflow exhaust system and the speed gear were 5-10 knots slower.
Forced aeromotive has almost finished the paperwork (they just finished the last test) with the FAA on a supercharger STC (critical altitude ~ 7300') so that'll be a game changer for folks as well. My bird still has about 19.5" MP up at 11.5k, but adding 7k is going to make dealing with hot and high days a little less stressful.
If you supercharge, just remember, a 140 IAS will have you pushing Vne around 13,500'. I bet that ends up biting someone.
Why? Vne is based on IAS, no?
Negative, Vne is a function of TAS.
If you supercharge, just remember, a 140 IAS will have you pushing Vne around 13,500'. I bet that ends up biting someone.
Negative, Vne is a function of TAS.
I always thought stick forces for roll in a DA-40 were pretty dang heavy. She's not a snappy handler IMO.
So if I understand correctly, Vne is 164 KTAS. I would be presently surprised if the turbo was capable of that, especially on the older DA40s
Anywhere without ice.
Cirrus SR20 G3 GTS $163
Cirrus SR22 G5 GTS $211
Cirrus SR22T G5 GTS $248
Diamond DA 40XLS $157
Diamond DA 40NG $124
Diamond DA 42NG Twinstar $244
That's what the DA42 is for.
*dreams*
The DA42 & SR22T appear to be in the same ballpark. They both have roughly the same capital (new & used) and variable operating cost according to Conklin & de Decker. (broad strokes here...)
Code:Cirrus SR20 G3 GTS $163 Cirrus SR22 G5 GTS $211 Cirrus SR22T G5 GTS $248 Diamond DA 40XLS $157 Diamond DA 40NG $124 Diamond DA 42NG Twinstar $244