DA62 on order or recently delivered?

[Bryce]

I was following OE-UDB on FlightAware the past couple of days. I got confirmation from Canada that 69.269 arrived to the Canadian Factory yesterday. Will be interesting to see how long it takes for all of the paperwork to go through before it's ready for me to fly up there and pick it up.

[Boatguy]

Good luck. Give it a thorough shakedown. I suggest making a delivery checklist and verifying every system in the plane before you accept delivery. Their test pilot flight does not exercise every system.

[Bryce]

Russ,
Do you have a checklist that you used or suggest?

Thanks,
Bryce

[Boatguy]

Do you have a checklist that you used or suggest?

No and I regret not having one for the delivery of my DA62. I was essentially rushed out of the factory to make the appointment with customs at KPHN. Literally 15min before departure they came out and told me there were problems with the paint, but if I would come back sometime they could fix it in 48hrs. I did come back and it took two weeks, on top of the cross country trip from CA to London.

My suggestion would be to start with the factory checklist (attached). Then add to that every single switch and port in your plane (FIKI, fuel transfer, radar, LEMO ports, USB ports, pedal adjustments, etc. etc.). Make a list of every system that will used in a typical cross country IFR/IMC flight.

Spend at least two days of acceptance flights, ten hours of flight time and at least 16 TO/LDG cycles with long taxis (my gear lock switches were not adjusted properly and gave me gear warnings while taxiing). Transfer fuel from aux to main multiple times (e.g., take off with mains low and transfer 5gal multiple times), wet out the FIKI panels multiple times, run the radar, run the RACC at different times, turn on the heat, check the oil consumption, cycle the gear, cycle the flaps, etc. Get an ECU dongle, bring a PC (or Mac per other threads here), download the Austro wizard, then download and study the ECU data every night.

Allow for a week in London so there is time to test, fix and test again. There will be MIF (maintenance induced failures). It is just so much easier to get it fixed there, than to discover it all in your first six months of ownership and make regular trips to KGOO who will then have to order parts which won't arrive for two days before installing them. The typical break/fix/wait for parts/install cycle is at least four days. Then add to that somebody shuffling you between home and KGOO.

I still have squawks that came from the factory (leaking RH tank vent) almost a year ago. Fixing the tank vent requires pulling the wing. I've had to swap the governors once and replace one.

New owners have all had problems, but unfortunately not the same problems. Owners have had everything from swollen wings (water in the wing freezing on delivery from Austria) to leaking TKS panels that destroyed tank sensor wiring, failed governors, and failed fuel transfer pumps. That's why there is no simple "look for this". I fully realize what I'm suggesting is a total pain in the ass, but you have to do the QA that the factory is not doing and it's so much easier than going through the break/fix/wait for parts cycle multiple times in the first year.

Your plane came from Austria so it's had more shakedown and I think we can be confident it arrived with a list of squawks that they attempted to fix in London. But long cruise is not the same as a bunch of TO/LDG cycles and they probably aren't using AC over the North Atlantic.

Worst case you will have spent a week in London testing a perfect plane and will curse my name for having wasted your time!

[VickersPilot]

Can anyone with a pending or prospective DA62 order get an answer on phase III?

[Bryce]

Good advice, thanks!

[Boatguy]

Good advice, thanks!

If you’re willing to pay them, because I don’t think warranty covers it, Gordon at KGOO will pickup and deliver your plane at Stead.

[Bryce]

I'm going to fly out to Detroit commercial and meet with clients in the suburbs there. Will go to the factory day 1 to do some flying and systems checks, as suggested. A few days later, Jonathan Smith will meet me there and fly it home with me. He owns a DA62, does MEI training in it at Flight Dogs in Hayward, and did my commercial multi add-on with me. Great instructor, can't recommend him enough for anyone needing training. Jonathan is the contracted "ferry pilot" that the dealer is providing for me. Good chance I will use Gordon for maintenance, however.

Thanks!