Diamonds last forever....whoever said this was WRONG

I got checked out in a Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution last night. I am in love. It is a very well designed airplane that has some serious thought put into it. It's of a modern design with a great glide ratio and good cruise speed for horse power. I think we were getting 130 knots on 5.5 GPH with a 125HP engine.

I'll be getting a checkout in a DA40 with G-1000 next week.
 
jangell said:
I got checked out in a Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution last night. I am in love. It is a very well designed airplane that has some serious thought put into it. It's of a modern design with a great glide ratio and good cruise speed for horse power. I think we were getting 130 knots on 5.5 GPH with a 125HP engine.

I'll be getting a checkout in a DA40 with G-1000 next week.
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Jess, I think the DA-20 is my favorite of all the planes I have flown thus far. From the time I bring up the throttle for takeoff until I turn off the runway, I never felt like I was making control inputs, but rather, it just did what I thought.

Nice!
 
SCCutler said:
Jess, I think the DA-20 is my favorite of all the planes I have flown thus far. From the time I bring up the throttle for takeoff until I turn off the runway, I never felt like I was making control inputs, but rather, it just did what I thought.

Nice!
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Same here. Only the slight squirrelly attitude it portrays because of the castoring nosewheel and low seating to the ground are the things you need to really concern yourself with when learning on it. Other than that, it's a beaut.
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
So with the castering nose wheel does it get the shimmy like the cessnas do?
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None of the free castoring nosewheel planes I've flown had any problem with shimmy and AFaIK they didn't have a shimmy damper either.
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
A small plane crashed at RDU this morning, at least it wasn't a Cirrus:

http://www.wral.com/news/10289653/detail.html
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Oh fer cryin' out loud Brook, I think the news story was less sensationalistic than your subject line. :p In the process of the usual "here's all the OTHER plane crashes that have happened here in the last xxx years" segment, they did manage to note that every occupant of every plane that crashed walked away.

The key piece of info from the article is this:

"The good thing is there was no smoke and no fire. So, whenever there is an airplane crash and that doesn't happen, it's probably a good sign," said Diego Alvarez, who has been in the airline industry for 20 year
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Yet another no-fire crash, something Diamond excels at which dramatically increases the survivability of a crash.

As with the other posters on this thread, I've been very impressed by the Diamonds I've flown. Almost got a chance to fly a DA42 this weekend, but then didn't. :( Soon, soon... I must fly that plane.
 
wbarnhill said:
Same here. Only the slight squirrelly attitude it portrays because of the castoring nosewheel and low seating to the ground are the things you need to really concern yourself with when learning on it. Other than that, it's a beaut.
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Also my favorite airplane so far. I had very little trouble with the free castoring nosewheel. Coming from Cessna, I thought it would be more of a problem than it was. On takeoff, I found that there was enough propeller slipstream that I only needed rudder to keep straight (though I was in an older Katana with somewhat less power, maybe it's not enough in the newer machines).

I've been flying the Grumman AA1C Lynx lately, and it also has a free castoring nosewheel, but without the low speed rudder authority. You have to drag a brake on takeoff, then shift off the brakes at the right point. I still get a wobble when I move off the brake. It's a pain. The Katana was much nicer that way (and in every other way, actually).

Chris
 
SCCutler said:
Jess, I think the DA-20 is my favorite of all the planes I have flown thus far. From the time I bring up the throttle for takeoff until I turn off the runway, I never felt like I was making control inputs, but rather, it just did what I thought.

Nice!
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I've only flown one once, but, I concur. I'm going to check out the DA-40 as well to see if I like it as much...
 
i also was actually surprised that the reporters who wrote that story ddidnt bash GA to peices like usual...they noted that all the pilots of all the crashes were uninjured...it gives some hope to those people who are scared to death of smaller airplanes just becasue of what the media makes of it...
i was expecting them to give examples of the most horrific, fiery, fatal crashes ever...
Also sorry but im not a big fan of the DA20 at least...the brand new one that my FBO bought to rent has been plagued with problems from the start..everything from electrical to engine/mechanical problems..
ill stick to my trusty warrior for now

Ant
 
I'm jealous of all of you! All of you who live in towns where they rent Diamonds. All you can get around here is a stinkin' Cezzna!

(OK, you can rent Cherokees in a few places as well which are great planes but not nearly as cool as a DA40).
 
yea im going to have to make jesse fly down here so i can see what all this diamond stuff is about.
 
I flew the DA-20 KFCM - KAUM - KMKT - KAUM. I will fly it back to KFCM tomorrow morning. It has proven itself to be very cross country capable. I was getting about 131 knots at 4,500 feet burning about 5.5 GPH.

I'll try to take some actual pictures of it tomorrow. But it's just an absolute joy to fly this thing.
 
Flew back to KFCM this morning. There is/was a pretty killer temperature inversion going on. It was about 1C on the ground and 15C at 2,300 ft AGL. Which also usally means that there were some pretty major winds aloft. I have a picture of a ground speed of 192 knots in the DA20. I'll post it later.

I tried to record a video of landing the thing. But it was so turbulent coming through that temperature inversion it slammed the camera agaisnt the ceiling which turned it off :(
 
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Yup, inversion here at PIA today. 1C on the ground, 5C at altitude, humongous winds ouf ot the south.
 
da20005wk6.jpg


Diamond DA-20-C1 125 HP sipping 5.5 GPH doing 192 knots...

(The wind may have been helping a little ;) )
 
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jangell said:
Diamond DA-20-C1 125 HP sipping 5.5 GPH doing 192 knots...
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Sweet. What's ASI charging for the 20 and 40 these days? Are we gonna see you in the 40 at Gaston's? :yes:

(I wish I had a Diamond to bring to Gaston's...)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Sweet. What's ASI charging for the 20 and 40 these days? Are we gonna see you in the 40 at Gaston's? :yes:

(I wish I had a Diamond to bring to Gaston's...)
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DA-20-C1 == $95 per hour
DA-40 w/ G1000 = $156 per hour

The plan is to fly the DA-40 to Gastons. There will be rides for anyone interested.
 
jangell said:
DA-20-C1 == $95 per hour
DA-40 w/ G1000 = $156 per hour
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Hmmm... Well, those rates seem reasonable.

The plan is to fly the DA-40 to Gastons. There will be rides for anyone interested.
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Jeez, I might have to bum a ride from MSN to 3M0. :frog:
 
cwyckham said:
I've been flying the Grumman AA1C Lynx lately, and it also has a free castoring nosewheel, but without the low speed rudder authority. You have to drag a brake on takeoff, then shift off the brakes at the right point. I still get a wobble when I move off the brake. It's a pain. The Katana was much nicer that way (and in every other way, actually).

Chris
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Do like I do working a powerful plane heavy and short: Line up at an angle the will be compensated by torque an p-factor allowing you to end up straight down the runway by the time the rudder gains full authority. That way you don't have to waste energy into the brakes. "Lining Up" isn't always the most advantageous way to take the runway.
 
Henning said:
Do like I do working a powerful plane heavy and short: Line up at an angle the will be compensated by torque an p-factor allowing you to end up straight down the runway by the time the rudder gains full authority. That way you don't have to waste energy into the brakes. "Lining Up" isn't always the most advantageous way to take the runway.
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I like that a lot. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Chris
 
jangell said:
Diamond DA-20-C1 125 HP sipping 5.5 GPH doing 192 knots...

(The wind may have been helping a little ;) )
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Without including the VSI or ASI, how do we know you weren't descending at redline?:D
 
lancefisher said:
Without including the VSI or ASI, how do we know you weren't descending at redline?:D
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haha. I was waiting for that. Most of the trip I was sitting at 170 knots. I had a short period where it picked up like mad. That is a 62 knot tailwind. I've had 160 knots over the ground in a C-150 before.

If I really wanted to take a fake picture I would have done to Vne and leveled off. The Diamond is a pretty clean airplane. I could get a picture straight and level with the Vsi at 0. You wouldn't see my speed bleeding off in a still.

Of course..someone woudl want a movie.
 
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jangell said:
haha. I was waiting for that. Most of the trip I was sitting at 170 knots. I had a short period where it picked up like mad. That is a 62 knot tailwind. I've had 160 knots over the ground in a C-150 before.
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I had 65+ knots of tailwind last Thanksgiving, on the way back from west Texas; unfortunately, the turbulence which accompanied it made flying much above 115 knots IAS very uncomfortable (and not terribly safe), so I flew along at 17" MP and 185 knots GS.
 
As I mentioned to Diana, there's a possibility of us bringing a DA-40 too. Hopefully we'll be allowed to take it on grass. Oh, and our prices on the DA-40 is $138, DA-40XL $148, and Eclipse C1 is $108. (All tach & wet. The DA-40s have G-1000s)
 
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that is tach price? wow! I am paying (was paying) 109 an hour hobbes for a crappy 35 year old Cessna. I say was, because I think I've had it with that plane. It's kept to airworthiness specs (barely) but it's always had issues - the HI rarely matches the compass, the hobbes is intermittent, and the last flight I was on the landing light went out - when we landed at 7 PM, it was interesting. and made more so because although I had made the radio calls, a doofus pulled out onto the runway while I was on short final and took off. he "didn't see me". apparently didn't hear me make the calls either.

all that for only 109 an hour! the price just went up - it used to be 99 an hour...
 
woodstock said:
the hobbes is intermittent
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I would think that could be a good thing to a renter! :D

After a 4 hr trip "Well, 1.8 on the Hobbes - sounds good to me!"
 
gkainz said:
I would think that could be a good thing to a renter! :D

After a 4 hr trip "Well, 1.8 on the Hobbes - sounds good to me!"
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you'd think! but then they base it on 1.3 times tach - I am betting that isn't precise.
 
woodstock said:
you'd think! but then they base it on 1.3 times tach - I am betting that isn't precise.
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IME that's pretty close for most training scenarios. On a real long cross country you're probably getting ripped off.
 
gprellwitz said:
As I mentioned to Diana, there's a possibility of us bringing a DA-40 too. Hopefully we'll be allowed to take it on grass. Oh, and our prices on the DA-40 is $138, DA-40XL $148, and Eclipse C1 is $108. (All tach & wet. The DA-40s have G-1000s)
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Grant:

I hate you. ;)

Man... You guys have an XL down there now? Wow. Don't you have to pay some kind of monthly fee in addition to the above though? Those prices would be good even for hobbs rates. What kind of hobbs/tach ratio do you see on the DA40's?

A DA40XL. Wow. I know what I'm bringin' to Gaston's next year. :D Screw the 182! (OK, not really. Good ol' 271G is probably still gonna be my ride.)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Grant:

I hate you. ;)

Man... You guys have an XL down there now? Wow. Don't you have to pay some kind of monthly fee in addition to the above though? Those prices would be good even for hobbs rates. What kind of hobbs/tach ratio do you see on the DA40's?

A DA40XL. Wow. I know what I'm bringin' to Gaston's next year. :D Screw the 182! (OK, not really. Good ol' 271G is probably still gonna be my ride.)
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We got the XL this month. On the G1000, what we're calling "tach" is labeled on the Engine - System page as "Total time" or something like that. According to Max's book, it's the time it's actually been in the air, but I haven't seen anything in the Diamond documentation that addresses it. I haven't checked the Garmin manual yet though, and that's probably where I'll find it. It is definitely less than the Hobbes, but I don't remember by what percentage.

We do have an additional monthly fee of $25 - $35, depending on your "rating" (student vs. private vs. multi and/or high perf.) There's also a $400 membership, $300 of which is refundable when you leave the club.

More info at www.AAndMAviation.com.

I don't think we have the cheapest rates around (witness the 310 we were talking about a month or so ago), but we have a good, varied, and well-maintained fleet. You may remember that I said good things about them on the PilotCast at Gaston's last year.
 
gprellwitz said:
We got the XL this month. On the G1000, what we're calling "tach" is labeled on the Engine - System page as "Total time" or something like that. According to Max's book, it's the time it's actually been in the air, but I haven't seen anything in the Diamond documentation that addresses it. I haven't checked the Garmin manual yet though, and that's probably where I'll find it. It is definitely less than the Hobbes, but I don't remember by what percentage.
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Ah. Could be "air time" then. If it works like most of Garmin's other stuff, that means any time you're moving faster than 30 kts the clock is ticking.

We do have an additional monthly fee of $25 - $35, depending on your "rating" (student vs. private vs. multi and/or high perf.) There's also a $400 membership, $300 of which is refundable when you leave the club.
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Aw man. Maybe I won't be flying the XL after all. :( You'd better bring that one, and give me a ride. :yes: :D

I don't think we have the cheapest rates around (witness the 310 we were talking about a month or so ago), but we have a good, varied, and well-maintained fleet.
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That's an awfully nice thing to have, though. That's why I liked renting from Wisconsin Aviation. However, they didn't have much in the way of "new" stuff, although I just got an e-mail today saying they got a new 172SP.
 
woodstock said:
that is tach price? wow! I am paying (was paying) 109 an hour hobbes for a crappy 35 year old Cessna. I say was, because I think I've had it with that plane. It's kept to airworthiness specs (barely) but it's always had issues - the HI rarely matches the compass, the hobbes is intermittent, and the last flight I was on the landing light went out - when we landed at 7 PM, it was interesting. and made more so because although I had made the radio calls, a doofus pulled out onto the runway while I was on short final and took off. he "didn't see me". apparently didn't hear me make the calls either.

all that for only 109 an hour! the price just went up - it used to be 99 an hour...
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Those are some reasons that those older planes are such good trainers plus, none of that stuff is that big a deal for airworthyness.
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
Those are some reasons that those older planes are such good trainers plus, none of that stuff is that big a deal for airworthyness.
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yeah but, the newer planes are only 124-127 an hour - this one could be should be about 20 bucks less than it is. I'm moving into an R model, though I'm not so far from the checkride now - maybe I should just tough it out, get the PPL and when I rack up hours towards the instrument rating I can get into a better one. the more things that actually work on your airplane the more you'll get tested on. :rolleyes:
 
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