To bring some closure to this thread, I had the canopy seal replaced. The draft has completely gone away, so that was the issue. Oddly, Diamond sent two seal materials to the shop. One is a thick black rubber seal, with a D-shaped cross section. That replaced what I had, and seems to have resolved t...

I'm not sure if it is the same in a DA40, but you definitely can jump start a DA20 from the EPU. There is a procedure for it in the flight manual. I did it a couple weeks ago.

That's pretty good, I've never seen above 140 kts TAS (sustained, in cruise). I did hit a record 172kts ground speed on the way back from Albany a few weeks ago, but I think I had about 50kts of help...

Steven Glad to hear you are enjoying one of my "old" DA20s. I know the seller quite well and he is an honest guy. I think your comments about him are undeserved. IMO part of the prebuy inspection SHOULD include atleast one flight by the buyer before taking delivery. If you don't do that t...

Yesterday I noticed quite a strong draft in the cabin, with the vents closed. It has probably been there for some time, but with the vents open due to the warm summer weather I did not notice it before. The draft is strongest between the glareshield and the canopy, on both the pilot and co-pilot sid...

They may have but I had no way to prove it. The A&P at the Diamond Service Center knew the airplane broker so he may have let something get by. It is very important to have a qualified independent shop do the pre-purchase inspection. My experience was similar, though I had an independent shop d...

Ooops... 2000$ sounds a bit like a major rip-off to me. Steven, a 5 mm crack is a fifth of an inch and I had my cracked wheelpants repaired which had long and nasty cracks of 2-3 inches on 2 of them. It cost me 500$ for both and I thought it was expensive. :shock: The price difference may be due to...

If I had to guess, I would say that repairs to the composite do not fall under the list of owner-allowed maintenance. But doing nothing probably is allowed, as long as your mechanic signs off the airplane as airworthy. That being said, personally I would probably order the stuff from Diamond and hav...

I respect Diamond for sticking their neck out and trying new engines. I owned a DA20-A1 with the Rotax 912 engine, and I thought it was a great, fuel-efficient, economical airplane. But, ultimately it was unsuccessful in the US because the plane was underpowered and it was difficult to find mechanic...

Just to add some info to this discussion, a mechanic pulled out the fuel pump and it was definitely not working. He installed a remanufactured one, and I can hear that one when it is operating, just like I remember. So to be clear, there is definitely an audible sound from the low pressure fuel pump...