Twin Twin Stars Inbound!
Diamond will be displaying two versions of its exciting new DA42 Twin
Star at next week's EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The DA42-360,
powered by a pair of 180hp Lycoming IO-360's will be joining its TAE turbo
diesel powered twin at Diamond's static display.
The Lycoming powered Twin arrived at Diamond's London, Ontario facility
31 flight hours after leaving Diamond's Wiener Neustadt factory. The
route included stops in Germany, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Goose
Bay, Sept Iles, and Ottawa. Total flight time was 31 hours over the
3,975 nm flight with an average economy cruise speed of 160 ktas. Apart
from skirting thunderstorms in Europe and facing average 30 kts headwinds,
the flight was uneventful and the aircraft performed flawlessly, reported
Diamond's Soeren Pedersen, who ferried the aircraft.
The DA42 TwinStar, with its standard Garmin G1000 glass flight deck is
an ideal multi engine trainer as well as an exciting alternative to high
performance singles, offering comparable costs with increased safety.
"We see the Lycoming powered version being particularly attractive
to the North American market, where customers generally favor performance
over fuel economy," said Peter Maurer, President of Diamond Aircraft.
"The Lycoming version, with 30% more horsepower than the turbodiesel,
boasts spectacular runway and climb performance, improved single engine
performance and higher cruise speeds. It comes down to a personal choice
– on one hand the fuel economy, smoothness, quietness and ease
of operation of the turbo-diesel verses higher performance and the well
demonstrated reliability and established support infrastructure of the
Lycoming. With either powerplant, the DA42 TwinStar is an exciting aircraft
offering the added safety of powerplant redundancy and known ice certification
for serious cross country flying."
Diamond has already delivered over 35 Twin Stars in Europe. U.S. delivery
starts are anticipated later this year.
|
