Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

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Hetch

Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Hetch »

I am a low time VFR (<200) pilot with 1/2 of that in a Diamond Star. The plane is getting an annual right now and the seller is committed to fixing anything Airworthy related.

My question is: As a buyer (for this model year... or NOT), what are the top 3 things you would focus on in your inspection / test flight?
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waynemcc999
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by waynemcc999 »

I'd strongly suggest, unless you're super mechanical and/or an A&P yourself, that you use a 3rd party to manage the pre-buy inspection, e.g.
https://www.savvyaviation.com/savvyavia ... vvyprebuy/
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rwtucker
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by rwtucker »

Wayne offers good advice about a third party inspection. You need to do your own inspection independent of any annual done by the seller.

Most of my suggestions focus on familiarity with the DA40. I could tell quite a few stories about otherwise competent A&Ps who become functionally incompetent when it comes to assessing the status of a DA40. The aircraft is sufficiently different that a mechanic needs to have done his or her homework and have sufficient hands on time. This translates into having a pre-purchase inspection done by someone who has done at least a few annuals on DA40s. If you can achieve that, you are most of the way there in securing your comfort.

I'm not sure I can give you three top issues but others on DAN know much more than I do about that. My suggestions would include: (a) conduct a good airframe inspection to ensure that there are no cracks, delamination, areas where water has infiltrated, etc. (b) examine the landing gear for signs of excessively hard landings, (c) the power plant and prop inspections are not unique to the DA40 so less specialized expertise is required; personally, I would not buy an aircraft without a recent oil analysis and even more important (because oil analyses can be faked) and a thorough inspection of the insides of the oil filter (taken off during your inspection and ensuring that the engine has adequate time on the filter).

For all of this, the detailed Diamond inspection checklist offers good guidance.
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Lou
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Lou »

I have a 2008 purchased in 2015. In addition to what has been mentioned, based on my experience I would specifically check: 1) tires and tubes, especially mains 2) boost pump (if original oem it's on borrowed time.) 3) prop overhaul status
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Don
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Don »

rwtucker wrote: I could tell quite a few stories about otherwise competent A&Ps who become functionally incompetent when it comes to assessing the status of a DA40. The aircraft is sufficiently different that a mechanic needs to have done his or her homework and have sufficient hands on time.
I have purchased four DA-40's. In my case they all have been brand new from the factory so I have minimum experience with used Diamonds. With that said, last year, I had a acquaintance purchase a 2003 Diamond Star located in San Diego, California. They had their pre-buy inspection done by a so called Diamond Maintenance facility. After the sale and inspection, the plane was delivered to my home base airport and I was told for the first time by our acquaintance that they just purchased a D-40. I was then asked to come take a look at it. The first thing I noticed was the nose of the aircraft was sitting way too low to the ground. I had my wife push down on the tail to lift the nose gear off the ground. On closer inspection, there was over four inches of vertical slop-play in the nose gear. It was very obvious to me at first glance that the nose gear compression donuts were worn out and should have been replaced. (I had done this on previous owned DA-40's). I found it hard to believe that this Diamond Service Center missed this as it was so obvious. But on the other hand, they billed the seller and buyer thousands of dollars for items that one might even call trivial. For the OP.
You might want to post where the aircraft is located so forum members can recommend a a good third party shop to do the inspection. In this particular case, the buyer got burned.
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Pascal »

In addition to what others have mentioned above, there are various things you should check yourself during the walk-around and test flight. Do the tires need replacing? Are there brake fluid leaks near the brakes? Do all the lights function properly? Can you move the ailerons without them binding? When you open up the cowling, do the engine rubber mounts look cracked, malformed?

During the test flight, make sure you communicate with an ATC or other aircraft using both radios. Are all engine instruments all in the green? Does it fly straight hands off when trimmed?
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Antoine »

Hello Hetch and welcome. I will focus on the flight part:
Set up the autopilot for straight and level flight then disconnect it, the plane should fly straight and level and remain on course.
The engine should run reasonably smooth. Make an inflight mag test as follows:
Altitude at least 6000 ft. Set 65% power, switch to one mag and watch EGTs. Back to 2 mags and then to other mag. You should not see EGT anomalies and the engine should run reasonably smooth. The EGT increase should be more or less the same for both tests.
Do a GAMI test by starting as above, activating the "lean" function of the G1000 and then slowly sweeping from rich of peak into the lean zone. Make a note of the fuel flow at which each cylinder EGT peaks before decaying. If the engine can run smoothly at 20-30 degrees lean of peak you have a nicely balanced one.
Speed check. A 2008 XLS should hit 150 KTAS in level flight at 6000 to 9000 ft with 2500 RPM and full throttle, between 10 an 12 GPH fuel flow. This will prove your engine is fine and the airframe is healthy.
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Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by CFIDave »

Check the tail skeg/ventral fin on the bottom fuselage for a vertical crack at the aft end. In my experience as a Diamond broker, I've seen multiple DA40s that have suffered hard tail strikes and cracked the skeg -- often missed on pre-buys. A new skeg is about $2500 if it needs to be replaced. The "sacrificial" aluminum tail skid may have been replaced and look perfect, so you also need to check the skeg for damage.
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Hetch

Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Hetch »

Wow! I love you all! Great stuff!!

Now. How do I make these two painfully slow weeks move any faster??? :scream:
Wildair17

Re: Taking Delivery of a 2008 XLS ; Question for you

Post by Wildair17 »

Did you ever take delivery?
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