DA40 demos in Pacific Northwest?

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diamondseeker

DA40 demos in Pacific Northwest?

Post by diamondseeker »

I am very nearly convinced that a G1000 DA40 is the closest thing that exists to the ideal plane for me. The only piece missing to make that final confirmation is -- I've never been in one.

It wasn't that long ago I had convinced myself from research and reviews that a certain car was exactly what I wanted. So I went and test drove one, and discovered that it had a number of quirks that I really didn't like. So I decided to test drive some other cars and ended up finding my perfect fit, nowhere near what I thought it would be. The moral of the story is, all the reading in the world can only take you so far -- unless you've had your butt in the driver/pilot seat, you can't really know.

So I'm looking for an opportunity to take a demo flight in a DA40. Preferably not a late model since I won't be able to afford those, but I'd settle if that's what's available. Unfortunately traveling to Ontario isn't in the cards anytime soon.

I'm a PPL student. Completed all my requirements, just waiting for weather and opportunity to schedule a check ride. In the meantime, if there's a rental available I have CFI friends who would be more than happy to let me pay to rent a plane for them. So rentals would work (if there are any, which I haven't found) but a demo would certainly be more economical.

I'm located in Oregon, near Portland. Looking for a Diamond in the rain. :roll:
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rwtucker
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Re: DA40 demos in Pacific Northwest?

Post by rwtucker »

I and a few other DAN members live in the pacific northwest. Unfortunately, I'm in Phoenix for the next month or so. I purchased my DA40 via Galvin Flying Services in Seattle (picked it up in London). Diamond has since pulled away from dealership sales but I think Galvin has a fleet of Diamonds and 35 or so instructors. They also are pretty deep in Diamond expertise. You might be able to combine a rental with a lesson there.

Depending on your intended use, there are advantages to both steam gauge and G1000 DA40's and even among different G1000 equipped versions. I recommend reading through the hundreds of pages in DAN on the various issues related to payload, W&B, speed, maintenance, canopy, MTOW, exhaust, and more.
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Rich
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Re: DA40 demos in Pacific Northwest?

Post by Rich »

rwtucker wrote: Depending on your intended use, there are advantages to both steam gauge and G1000 DA40's and even among different G1000 equipped versions. I recommend reading through the hundreds of pages in DAN on the various issues related to payload, W&B, speed, maintenance, canopy, MTOW, exhaust, and more.
... and be totally unable to decide :) An awful lot of DA40's (like many other types) have had various mods and options applied such that there may be no two alike. This isn't unique to Diamonds, of course. The older the airframe is, the more likely it is to deviate from its stable-mates.

Galvin is a likely place to check out various permutations. I bought mine from them 14 years ago. I could let you check mine out, as I live about an hour's flight from Portland, but it's a steam-gauger.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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