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Does anyone know of any flight schools in Oahu that have any DA40s for rent for visiting pilots? I was hoping to do a checkout and then some local sightseeing flights in a DA40 but thus far haven't found any for rent. Any recommendations on places to rent other aircraft would also be welcome.

Thanks

Hey Kyle, did you ever manage to find any Diamonds for rent in Hawaii?

Hey Adam. No, I did not find any in Oahu. I did talk to a flight school that had other types of aircraft for rent but didn't get to work a flight into my schedule.

I read an ad recently showing DA20-C1 rentals available.....dont know what Island in Hawaii.

Looks like they have a C-1 available on the big island.
http://tropicbirdflightservice.com/

In regards to forum members inquiring about Diamond rentals in Hawai'i:
https://www.georgesaviation.com/airplan ... -policies/

This is who I rent aircraft from, specifically because they're the only show in town if you want DA40s. I might have also said because they have a good overnight policy, but, they called me this week and declined my Christmas trip to Maui because I had 691YW in Hilo for Thanksgiving. The woes of an aircraft renter's life (shrug).

Three DA40s, 2006 models with long range tanks and GFC700. They're primarily used for flight training, very badly weathered and maintenance is what you might expect on a shoestring budget. Each of them (691YW, 680DS & 778DS) have their own quirks. For VFR flight 0DS and 8DS work just fine. Highly recommend 1YW for IFR. 1YW also seems to be considerably more nose heavy; doesn't want to rotate at 59 knots and climbs slower than the DS's. 1YW also had the MLG stroked into the wings by a student, now the gear legs are bent and the tires are badly worn. The G1000 loads are different among the three as well, DS's have fuel pressure indications, YW does not for example. Failure of the HSI indicator is common among the DS's, although rare on YW. Other than that just typical rental stuff I think.

All things considered, these three are still the best aircraft in their class in the entire State of Hawai'i. I've put over 100 hours on them this year: Mauna Kea visit @ 13,500 feet; IFR flight @ FL110; family weekend and Holiday getaways to Lihue, Kahulu'i, Hana, Lana'i, Kona and Hilo. These planes do it all

Awesome information! This will probably serve many DAN users looking for DA information/reviews for Hawaii in the future.

13,500 is seems so high! Especially in the hot tropics. Did you fly around Mauna Kea or is there a runway? I'm just curious. It sounds like a really cool adventure.

Mauna Kea was just a flyby, nothing suitable for fixed wings to land on, fun to fly around the snowbanks in Hawai'i though. Climb to FL135 was anemic above FL110 with a relatively light cabin payload, about 150 fpm. These are non Powerflow exhaust aircraft with the aluminum 2-bladed props. It provided me 20 minutes of loiter time at the summit as per FAR 91.211.

Reading my comment above, I don't mean to cast shade upon these rentals. In all fairness they are the most well maintained rentals I've had in Hawai'i, so take it for what it's worth. Largest complaints for these aircraft among pilots are G1000 centric; being that they need a serious avionics shop to go through them and perform updates and bug fixes.

Flying in Hawai'i is fabulous in ways I can't describe, but it's also exceedingly dangerous. Highly encourage IFR flight between islands. If you're going to pay for a flight anyway, pay to see the canyons and waterfalls from a helicopter instead.

Lastly, I discovered yesterday another Diamond in the Islands, a 2005 DA40 in Kona operated by Mauna Loa Helicopters. I believe it's for training use only and not available for rent. However, if you were able to coax them into a rental opportunity, Kona (the Big Island in general) provides a superior vacation experience to Oahu IMO.