Avweb on flying the DA42 V1

[lfreeman]

See Paul Bertorelli comments about flying the new V1. He says it will be announced next month.

http://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/AVWe ... 313-1.html

Yes, I would rather have a DA42 than a Cirrus with a chute.

[Antoine]

Personally, I am torn between two opinions.

On the one hand it is a delight to see that the DA42 is finally becoming what it was advertized to be back in 2005, a reasonably fast twin with moderate Jet A1 fuel burn and lots of safety features.
If its operating costs end up being reasonable, (hmmm, skeptical...) that may well become my upgrade path from the DA40.

On the other I can't help but feel cheated on behalf of the people who already bought the 1.7 Thielert, the 2.0 Thielert or, even worse, the "NG", only to find out that Diamond hadn't finished their engineering job before delivering the plane , AND there is no upgrade path.
You don't pull 15 extra knots out of a well-designed plane without a major change, right? How does an aero engineer feel when a colleague takes what he considered finished work and polishes another 15 KNOTS (!!!) out of it. That's a case for hara-kiri!

And as to whether this plane will capture market share from the SR22, I guess the answer is "yes", for a simple reason: many Cirrus buyers buy the prestige, just check out the purely cosmetic extras that these people shell out big money for and even Cirrus's marketing openly speaks about "showing that you have it all".

So having a TWIN will offer the potential Cirrus buyer a great opportunity to one-up their many Cirrus buddies "uh, no, I went for a twin, you know, the new Jet A Diamond - it's a tad more, but safety is priceless to me". (Read: you poor man, risking your life in a not expensive enough single).

THat's how Diamond should present the V1 (but get the *%&#" name right first you ...)

The only problem is: you won't win existing Cirrus customers: the DA42's cabin is a significant step backwards for them. The DA52 would probably be their bird.

And there is another issue: the DA42 V1 may be as fast as an SR22, but the SR22 turbo will still beat it by a big margin as a medium altitude cruiser.

[lfreeman]

I would agree completely about the cabin. All of the competition have air conditioning available. I've sat on the taxiway at KADS for upwards of 20 minutes before in the Texas heat and it is no fun. ATC will also vector you around at 3000 feet across the Class B for a half hour many times and there isn't much relief at that altitude.

I may want to move up from my DA40 in the future, but the current DA42 doesn't appear to offer that much advantage. The Piper Matrix has pretty much everything (air conditioning, payload, G1000, six seats, air stair, speed 215 kts) for not much more in price (in airplane dollars). But I really like flying my Diamond and its safety record.

[Aart]

I agree with Antoine's observations. The least they can do is provide Austro upgraders these sleeker cowlings and better props. I have made up my mind that I am not going for an Austro upgrade to 'NG' status because that would only give me 10 additional knots. I would go to 'semi V1' status (cowlings, props) if it provides another 10-15 knots, and -more importantly- better single-engine climb performance and runway performance.

Many of us, and Paul Bertorelli, don't seem to like the V1 as a name. I am not a marketeer but how would NGS sound?

[Steve D]

I also agree with Antoine. It is very disappointing that there is no performance upgrade path. Diamond were keen at the end of February to get me to buy a new V1 but the trade-in value they offered on my 236hr 2.0TDi made it completely financially unfeasible.

In my opinion, the upgrade from TDi to NG format has never been a good idea either from a financial or performance aspect.

Once again we Thielert owners are back to waiting for the 2.0S to be STC'd. If LoPresti ever get of their a$$es and start making new cowlings to minimize interference drag, which is what DAI have done, then we would probably have very comparable performance to the new V1.

[Erik]

Several of you have mentioned - but I cannot help putting my hat in too....the DA42 is a beautiful airplane and to see it become substantially upgraded is wonderful - but I don't care how nice it is - I would never ever buy an airplane with the name V1 on it with the black history of that name. This is just a stupid and callous name given the well known history and it really makes me wonder about the whole leadership of the company if they really do not see it as a problem. I am not shopping for an airplane right now, but I just hope someone in the company reads this website since I bet I am not the only one with this opinion.

[Jean]

Several of you have mentioned - but I cannot help putting my hat in too....the DA42 is a beautiful airplane and to see it become substantially upgraded is wonderful - but I don't care how nice it is - I would never ever buy an airplane with the name V1 on it with the black history of that name. This is just a stupid and callous name given the well known history and it really makes me wonder about the whole leadership of the company if they really do not see it as a problem. I am not shopping for an airplane right now, but I just hope someone in the company reads this website since I bet I am not the only one with this opinion.

Ditto.
My grandmother's house was destroyed by a V1 during world war 2. She survived thanks to American soldiers who rescued her. Liege was heavily bombed by V1's in 1944. Antwerp's haven was destroyed by V2's.
I was born in 1952, 7 years after the end of WW2, but I have grown in a post war era where wounds, frustrations, humiliations where very visible. Not cool.
So I would back Erik in saying that some symbols should stay where they were buried.
People in Liege were very anxious about V1's. They'd hear their puttering noise in the air. When the noise stopped, they wondered where the darn thing would drop (and kill).
Does that have anything to do with Thielert or Austro engines ?
I hope not Mr Dries.

[Kai]

Jean & Erik:

When I first read about the name "V1" here on this forum, I thought it was a joke or an internal name the sales people used in order not to reveal the real name yet. I couldn´t imagine that Diamond Aircraft Industries would really use this name and I stupidly followed the lead.

Diamond Aircraft Industries history is based on the tradition of the aircraft production in Wiener Neustadt since 1872. Their projects during WWII were the ME109 and the V2. In the museum right next to the administration of DAI, some of the aircraft built and used in Wiener Neustadt were exposed there. With this background I don´t know how anyone could categorize a new aircraft type using the term "V1" and not associating it with the Vernichtungswaffe1.

It would be interesting to get a statement from DAI.

[Tommy]

Jean & Erik
...It would be interesting to get a statement from DAI.

Has anyone concerned sent them an e mail requesting an explanation?

[Kai]

Has anyone concerned sent them an e mail requesting an explanation?

Nope. Not that I would know of. I am too busy these days as I am not at home. Could do in a week or so. Anyone any earlier?