I flew a DA42 today!

Any DA42 related topics.

Moderators: Rick, Lance Murray

User avatar
Steve D
3 Diamonds Member
3 Diamonds Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:46 am
First Name: Steve
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: ZS-SDW
Airports: FALA
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Steve D »

Thanks. I have sent him an email and will report back to DAN if anything comes of it.
Steve Dewsbery
CPL IR NR
Johannesburg, South Africa
Antoine
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2043
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:00 pm
First Name: Antoine
Aircraft Type: OTHER
Aircraft Registration: N121AG
Airports: LSGG
Has thanked: 87 times
Been thanked: 220 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Antoine »

I understand he is not too keen on publicity...
User avatar
Aart
4 Diamonds Member
4 Diamonds Member
Posts: 447
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:27 pm
First Name: Aart
Aircraft Type: DA42
Airports:
Has thanked: 21 times
Been thanked: 22 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Aart »

As to the MTOM upgrade of the latest -VI to from 1900 to 1999 kg, what are the modifications to the airframe again? IIRC a roll bar and landing gear beef-up, correct? It was somewhere in another thread, but can't find it..
Aart
DA42.332 PH-CCD LESB (Palma de Mallorca, Spain)
Antoine
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2043
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:00 pm
First Name: Antoine
Aircraft Type: OTHER
Aircraft Registration: N121AG
Airports: LSGG
Has thanked: 87 times
Been thanked: 220 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Antoine »

Yes, Aart, the difference between 1900 and 1999 Kg MTOW airframes it is a stronger roll-bar which cannot be retrofitted. Not sure if they did something to the gear too.

Here is the original message from DAI:

"DA42TDI (Thielert) Aircrafts till 42.427 and DA42NG till SN: 42.N060 have not installed the reinforced rollbar.
The roll bar is not retrofitable. That is the major point."
User avatar
CFIDave
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2681
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2012 3:40 pm
First Name: Dave
Aircraft Type: OTHER
Aircraft Registration: N333GX
Airports: KJYO Leesburg VA
Has thanked: 233 times
Been thanked: 1478 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by CFIDave »

Aart:
The 99 kg weight increase for the DA42-VI requires MÄM 42-678 and MÄM 42-659.

These mods include some structural enhancements to the fuselage around the cockpit area, and new/additional parts that slightly changed the design of the landing gear. Diamond initially thought they'd be able to obtain the weight increase without mods, but EASA (recognizing that the DA42 is used a great deal for flight training and suffers landing abuse by students) decided to make Diamond prove the aircraft could withstand a very severe 10G drop on the gear without damage! This far exceeds what the FAA has traditionally required for Part 23 certification.

The weight increase mods don't change the flying characteristics of the aircraft at all. Since the latest AFM/POH describes expected performance at the higher weight, IMHO loading an earlier DA42-VI without the weight increase to 1999 kg doesn't make you a "test pilot." Just don't plan on landing with a 10G impact. :D
Epic Aircraft E1000 GX
Former DA40XLS, DA42-VI, and DA62 owner
ATP, CFI, CFI-I, MEI
User avatar
Steve D
3 Diamonds Member
3 Diamonds Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:46 am
First Name: Steve
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: ZS-SDW
Airports: FALA
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Steve D »

I don't know anyone that "plans" on landing with a 10G impact :D
Steve Dewsbery
CPL IR NR
Johannesburg, South Africa
User avatar
Colin
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2006
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:37 pm
First Name: Colin
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: N972RD
Airports: KFHR
Has thanked: 319 times
Been thanked: 527 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Colin »

The second flight I took in a DA40 I dropped it on the the runway at KLGB from about six feet up. I don't even remember it bouncing more than once, so I think it absorbed the energy from the drop pretty well. I apologized to the salesman and he said, "Don't worry about it, that's why we have a demo plane."

I then bought that demo plane with 115hrs and at least one really poor landing on it and flew it for ten years.
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
colin@mightycheese.com * send email rather than PM
http://www.flyingsummers.com
N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
N971RD DA40 G1000 s/n 40.508 (traded)
User avatar
carym
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 1021
Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2010 5:00 pm
First Name: cary
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: N336TS
Airports: KTYQ
Has thanked: 37 times
Been thanked: 83 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by carym »

Colin wrote:The second flight I took in a DA40 I dropped it on the the runway at KLGB from about six feet up. I don't even remember it bouncing more than once, so I think it absorbed the energy from the drop pretty well. I apologized to the salesman and he said, "Don't worry about it, that's why we have a demo plane."

I then bought that demo plane with 115hrs and at least one really poor landing on it and flew it for ten years.
The DA42 is such a great plane to land. In my 9 years I only remember 1 bad landing. It was at night and I succumbed to the "black hole" effect. Every other landing has been a perfect greaser (I also have a bridge to sell :) )
Cary
DA42.AC036 (returned)
S35 (1964 V-tail Bonanza)
Alaska adventure: http://mariashflying.tumblr.com
User avatar
Steve D
3 Diamonds Member
3 Diamonds Member
Posts: 152
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:46 am
First Name: Steve
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: ZS-SDW
Airports: FALA
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: I flew a DA42 today!

Post by Steve D »

Antoine

Update re the DA42 speed mods made by your friend.

I head off to my annual air race this coming Thursday. The race is run from an airfield in the middle of the country with an altitude of 5500ftAMSL and probably close to ISA days which has to favour turbo charged aircraft :) As per your friend's advice I have purchased flap and aileron gap seals from a local supplier which I will install next Tuesday. I have already replaced all the raised screws with flush mounted screws. I hope this will help to eliminate enough drag to nullify the latest handicap increase and finally make my DA42 a true +180kts aircraft @ 100% power.

Further, I have contracted with a local sailplane manufacturer to build fairings between the fuselage and wings. He believes these could make a significant difference to the performance by dramatically reducing interference drag. Interestingly, he thinks your friend's attempts in this field have too small a radius to make a material difference to drag and is planning on a larger radius fairing. Unfortunately these will not be ready till September so it will be a while before I can confirm the benefits or otherwise.

Again I have been thwarted in my attempts to secure the flap/aileron aft afairings from DAI. They promised to supply but so far nothing. :scream: DAI really don't want anybody challenging the performance of the - VI let alone a DA42 TDi with only 135hp Thielert motors. 8)

Will report back after the race.
Steve Dewsbery
CPL IR NR
Johannesburg, South Africa
User avatar
Rick
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 1575
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:09 pm
First Name: Rick
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: NONE
Airports: KROA
Has thanked: 107 times
Been thanked: 297 times

DA42 TDI data card questions

Post by Rick »

I have data card questions for you DA42 owners. The owner of a local 2007 TDI asked me about how to make data logging work in his DA42. I thought I remembered reading on here that it wasn't supported in this version (this thread, I guess), so probably not much hope. But in looking at this plane, I noticed the 2 permanent database cards were in the UPPER slots of the PFD and MFD, and the (attempted) data logging card was in the lower MFD slot. The was backwards from what I expected.

So, I tried moving the data cards to the 2 lower slots, like it is on the DA40, but in this configuration the startup screen shows no terrain or obstacle databases, and no checklist file. With the cards back in the top slots, those items are all ok again. Is this what you would expect?

This DA42 is running G1000 software version 0370.22 - is that the latest version for the TDI's?
Roanoke, VA (KROA)
Post Reply