Why would anyone buy a $1,400,000 twin piston?

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CFIDave
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Re: Why would anyone buy a $1,400,000 twin piston?

Post by CFIDave »

1. It all depends on your mission. If all you want to do is use the aircraft to make point A-to-point B trips, sitting on autopilot up high in the flight levels above the clouds where there's not much to see (because you can't operate a jet down low), then the Eclipse may be a better choice.

But if you actually enjoy flying for its own sake (i.e., sport/recreational flying), the DA62 will let you fly into smaller airports, do sightseeing, or just "bore holes in the sky" on a nice day because the fuel consumption is so low. The DA62 will let you do most of the same flying you'd do in a DA20/DA40 -- but also operate as a comfortable long-distance cruiser, including trips over inhospitable terrain or water, or with forecast icing. For me, it's the best of both worlds that's far more flexible than a jet.

Would you use an Eclipse jet to land on small islands in the Bahamas? Practice formation flying? Criss-cross the Grand Canyon while taking 4K videos, or fly the Fisk arrival into Oshkosh Airventure? I've done all of these in my DA62.

2. We can get most pilots insured in a DA62, including newly-minted multiengine pilots, those without an instrument rating, or even those over 75 years of age -- mostly because of Diamond's exemplary safety record and ease of operation. Turbine aircraft like the Eclipse are in a totally different league that requires a type rating, recurrent annual training that requires traveling to somewhere like Flight Safety or CAE for multiple days, insurance (assuming you can get it) that requires flying with mentor pilots or instructors for many hours before you're allowed to solo, etc. You have to really be on your "A" game all the time when flying a jet single-pilot.

3. The annual inspections for my DA62 run around $4000. You can almost add another zero to that for a twin turbine aircraft. Most jet aircraft have to be enrolled in expensive engine maintenance programs, and a hot section inspection for a small turbine runs about $250K. There are lots of small jets for sale for less than $1M, but that acquisition cost doesn't begin to reflect the eye-watering maintenance and operating costs.
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Re: Why would anyone buy a $1,400,000 twin piston?

Post by ultraturtle »

As discussed previously, there is a huge gap in price and performance between the DA62 and the next step up in capability, be it speed, payload, range, or combination thereof (see https://diamondaviators.net/forum/viewt ... =18&t=7029.) If, like me, you have a need to haul about 1,000 lbs less than 500 miles on a frequent basis, the additional hassle and expense of a turboprop or turbojet makes little sense. The time saving is negligible.

My answer to the question "Why would anyone buy a new $1,400,000 twin piston?" is that it is a bargain compared to a less capable new $1,500,000 twin piston (Baron).

Apples to apples...
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Re: Why would anyone buy a $1,400,000 twin piston?

Post by Deanrobert »

A friend of mine had an eclipse for 9 Months; sold it and bought a citation mustang - said parts / time AOG was horrible w eclipse
I just went from a 42ng to a 2017 62; contemplated tbm but love the 62 and it’s room/ range/ 3 year old technology..
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Re: Why would anyone buy a $1,400,000 twin piston?

Post by MackAttack »

I think a 13-year old used Eclipse compared to a new DA62 is more of a straw man comparison to be honest. A better comparison would be a Citation Mustang, which can be had used for about 1.2-1.5 mm on programs. Operating cost including programs for a Mustang is in the 1200/hour range. Carries six and has a range of 1200 nm (but not both at the same time obviously). Or compare a used DA62 at 1.1 mm with the cost of a top of the line used Eclipse with Avio 2.8 and all the equipment upgrades, or a Mustang off programs for the same money. Those will be priced about the same actually ...

A very good friend of mine has had his Eclipse for 10 years and his operating expenses have averaged about 700/hour excluding engine programs. The Eclipse experience has varied tremendously among owners (my friend has had literally almost no AOG time as it happens), but it is a little 370-knot hot rod. The avionics have continued to be upgraded and they just added synthetic vision and an update to the auto throttles. There are a number of good things about the Eclipse but a used Eclipse with the latest avionics, all the key equipment updates and well maintained is north of $1 mm. For 750k, you won't get one with the better avionics and upgrades. And there is definitely a safety feature to fly at FL410 in terms of avoiding weather risk. If you routinely have a mission that approaches 1000 nm, then a plane like that (or an SETP) is probably a better choice than a DA62. That's my mission profile and I fly a Piper M600, for example.

I note that the DA62 price new is comparable to what Textron charges for a new Baron, and also what Piper charges for a new M350. So some people at these companies think that at least some folks will be 1.4 mm for a new piston twin/piston pressurized single. I'm not debating one vs. the other, just the coinicidence of pricing is interesting.
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Re: Why would anyone buy a $1,400,000 twin piston?

Post by CFIDave »

I knew a DA40 owner who also owned a Cessna Mustang jet -- he told me it was "killing him" because the jet was costing him $20K/month to operate and maintain. The DA40 was for flying "short hops" to his beach house, and the Mustang jet was used for long-distance travel. He eventually sold both and got a used pressurized Piper PA46.
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