Diamond Aircraft Industries is an Austrian composite aircraft manufacturer serving customers all over the world. The company builds the safest, most efficient piston aircraft flying today, for flight schools, private operators, governmental organizations and remote sensing companies.
I love the DA62, but I hardly see this as a traditional business aircraft. It can of course serve as such. The formally dressed pilot is a bit much, she looks more like she's ready to take off in an Airbus A321 than a DA62.
It was a big pleasure to see my former boss and mentor Capt. Solomon Gizaw when I did PPL with Abyssinian Flight Services in Addis Abeba, saw the first Diamonds landing in Addis before I left the company :)
I am excited for electric innovation in aviation! However there are a number of significant obstacles to viability. 1. Battery technology. Improvement is an asymptotic, not exponential, curve. Breakthroughs have been teased for the last 5 years and will be for the next 5, but ultimately they will reach a plateau which will still leave the range lacking. 2. Charging infrastructure. It is hard enough to find electric car charging sometimes, and will be harder still for aircraft. Car charging is often installed as an incentive to frequent a commercial establishment, and the same case is not likely for airports. 3. Engineering limitations. Batteries are heavier than fuel tanks, even if the motor is lighter. Conventional planes place fuel in the wings, but due to battery weight, doing the same would overwhelm the load factor. For this reason, most designs place them in the fuselage. This not only limits space for batteries, it eliminates space for pilots and passengers as well! In addition, fuel is burnt off during flight, reducing weight which batteries cannot do. 4. Regulatory limitations. Besides electric motors being banned by the FAA as of the time of writing. Much like the above point, the best design for on electric plane has little to do with the best traditional GA design. It is much more efficient to feature numerous small propellors or ducted fans than one large single engine. However, this would thet push the design into the space of multi-engine, a niche with which current electric planes can compte even less. MOSAIC does not go far enough to consider this: in my opinion electric planes should be exempt from a single engine requirement especially as the risk of an electric motor failure is far remote. In contrast, there are also a large number of benefits to electric aircraft that should not be forgotten! 1. Extremely cheap operation. Compared to avgas prices, electricity might as well be negligible. In addition, electric drivetrains are far more mechanically simple and as such require vastly less maintenance, including on the 100-hour. With a low enough entry price, this will make them much more tempting to new owners (such as myself). 2. Quiet operation. Of course this is just considerate neighbourliness, however that in itself may substantially benefit GA. Airports are prime real estate to get closed and redeveloped, and noise is often cited as a complaint for housing. Reducing the volume leads to a better perception of GA. 3. Mechanical simplicity and creative design. With the simplicity of electric motors, more creative designs can be attempted. We see this with the rise of eVTOL startups. VTOL operation with conventional cruises makes operation even simpler and more accessible. Plus we don't know about what hasn't yet been tried. 4. Getting the lead out. Lack of emissions should be obvious. In my personal opinion, the best solution to address these problems while maintaining the benefits would be a hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain. This technology is dying because it truly does not make sense for cars; however it matches the considerations of aviation much more readily.
I had an engine faliure on the DA 20, it can happen on any aircraft, but if it wasnt for Dimond aircraft large wing span gliding clean landing on a soft field wouldnt have been easy.
I don't understand. Why does Flightradar show your last flight in OE-FGZ, flying a 26 minute circuit from Wiener Neustadt East Airport in Vienna (QEW) on 3 April 2024. Is this old footage or do they re-issue tail numbers in Vienna?
Why don't you wat to fly big aircraft? Get a local SA pilot to show you some low level flying. As an EU pilot is was wild doing low passes below the legal limit back home and being told, descend further
