I can relate to what you describe, I have arrived a few times into the Phoenix Valley, at night, after flying for nine hours from Calgary Canada, 1060 nm, that's a lot of flying at 130knots, my last trip, had the routing of CYBW KCTB KFOM KGEU, by the time I arrived in the Phoenix Valley it was night, traffic all around me, including F15's nearby taking off Luke AB, started positioning my self towards Luke, when Phoenix approach reminded me of how much paper work I would have to do, I'm glad the guy had a sense of humour, Glendale is like 5 miles away, Phoenix is the busiest airspace I ever flew in, it can be overwhelming.rwtucker wrote:Even though I agree, most of time time completely, there occasions where I have extra appreciation for Diamond's handling characteristics. Today was such a day. Four and one half hours solitary non-stop from northern Idaho to Phoenix at 15,500 MSL . . . fatigued more than I knew by the time I crossed the Grand Canyon (I had an O2 leak and didn't know it) . . . then into Phoenix's complex airspace at a point where three air spaces, a traffic-intensive alert area, and an Air Force base restricted area that was visibly hot at the time of my arrival. I finally make it to my airport, high and hot (don't ask) facing a turn to base where anything short of a 70-72 degree bank chasing the runway back (no skid) would have broken military airspace. I'm too fast for flaps but not that far above theoretical stall. Unsurprisingly, my Diamond flew much better than I did; brought be back to center line ready for an aggressive slip. (At least my fatigue disappeared.) I'm not sure I would have tried that (or survived, had I tried) in most other aircraft I have flown. It would be correct to say that the Diamond's stability may lead to poor habits. On the other hand, there are days when we part-time, occasional, much less than perfect pilots appreciate what Diamond has done. In my mind, they don't get enough credit for it.Antoine wrote:I am willing to allocate a lot of goodwill towards Diamond's totally idiot-proof stall characteristics, but the above data makes me wonder if they aren't getting a bit complacent in terms of engineering ambition. 6 knots of Vs gain in landing configuration is ... not much. And this wingspan is ... an awful lot!
I love my plane, and how forgiving it is, but my body hates it!
The ideal DA40 would have the lycoming TIO 360, 210 HP from the Mooney M20J, 165 KTAS, TKS, 65 Gallons min., optional AC, and the stall speed as it is, better seats, like on the Porsche 997, that's not asking for a lot is it?
It's interesting that DAI is not showing the XLT with the Lycoming 360 on their web site, a mistake in my opinion, the NG needs to deal with the extra weight of the engine, or the safe plane status will disappear.
I love Antoine's Extra400, have looked at that plane for a long time, unfortunately the value of my money has dropped by 42%, that means no new fancy plane for a while.