Thoughts after 2 year of owning a DA40NG

[alanhawse]

Last year I posted on my first year viewtopic.php?t=8861.... here is my second.

After getting the plane back from Annual last year I have flown another 391-ish hobbs hours. In that time I finished my CFI ratings and my wife and I flew to the Bahamas, Florida, and Nantucket... as well as a bunch of times back and forth to Huntsville where my son is going to school.

I now have bit over 600 hours in the airplane. It is great. No doubt. It is an amazing and safe plane to fly and it has been a joy on so many levels. I have been working with some Cirrus students... and I am starting like Cirrus. But it just isn't as good as my 40 on so many levels.

Last year I posted that I hoped that they were going to delivery my 50 soon... which turned out to not be soon... in fact it turned out to be BS that the plane was certified at OSH. It is now done... and I THINK that I will be able to post pictures and tell about flying it within the next 1 week.... but that will be on the DA50 forum.

The DA40NG plane is amazing.

As to the maintenance. As the plane has gotten more hours on it I'm now suffering from some of the niggling maintenance things. And apparently there are some big things coming up this year.

Since last year I did
New MLG tires ... 1553
500 $3546
600 $4073 (brake pads + nose wheel)
Annual $?

I marked the Annual as $? because I made an agreement with James Spearman to do ALL of the maintenance including this years annual + IFR cert etc... + everything else that goes wrong for both planes (DA40 and DA50) ~$30K for everything including pick up and drop off... same day service etc. Is that going to be a good deal or did I over pay? Obviously I think that having white glove immediate service is important because I fly all the time. But yes. It isn't cheap.

One of the things that he did was replace all of the coolant hose clamps. Apparently the OEM clamps stretch... and AGAIN this year I had coolant leaking issues. The "COOL LVL" cas message is really really freaking annoying. If you are having COOL LVL problems he can fix them.

My engine was not impacted by the most recent Austro thing. But it is for sure something to think about. I think that I will be into the 900 hours this year... and my current thinking is to put a new engine in... though I would love to hear yall's thoughts on the topic.

As to insurance... this year was quite a bit lower $13.2K with 1 student pilot... getting some hours dropped it by $7K year on year.

So where does that leave us? I think that it should be possible to spend less money flying these planes. But given time constraints in my life and how much I fly... I think that it is worth it.

Alan

[nickname]

Good total cost of ownership breakdown. Seemingly with Austros, breakdown can be bursty, low some and high other years.

[dmloftus]

Wow, that's a lot of flying in two years. Certainly helps bring down hourly cost. My hourly cost is dominated by fixed costs as I fly only about 100-150 per year: annual averages about $5K, hangar $7.8K, insurance $2K, county taxes $4.2K. For 100 hours, that's $190/hour before gas, oil, scheduled maintenance, or engine reserves. Fun but expensive hobby. AOPA's Mark Baker thinks MOSAIC will improve costs. I don't think it will help much for solo owners like us.

[alanhawse]

As far as two years goes... I started on 6/22/21 with my first lesson in a C172... since then I have flown

[alanhawse]

MOSAIC will improve costs. I don't think it will help much for solo owners like us.

Somehow or the other there needs to be a safety compromise... I personally not a fan of sport and recreational pilot licenses.

[Rich]

AOPA's Mark Baker thinks MOSAIC will improve costs. I don't think it will help much for solo owners like us.

I don't see that. Basically the sport pilot certificate exists to escape medical exam requirements. FWIW, as currently written the DA40 wouldn't fall under these expanded limitations due to stall speed restrictions.

[blsewardjr]

The current MOSAIC proposal is expressed in Calculated Airspeed -- max VS1 of 54kt KCAS. The DA40-180 VS1 is expressed in Indicated airspeed -- VS1 of 53kt KIAS at 2646lb. At higher speeds the difference is very small but at lower speeds it appears to be much larger. Looking at the DA40-180 airspeed calibration chart indicates that 54kt KIAS is about 60kt KCAS in the DA40-180. Disappointing. Bernie

[Rich]

The current MOSAIC proposal is expressed in Calculated Airspeed -- max VS1 of 54kt KCAS. The DA40-180 VS1 is expressed in Indicated airspeed -- VS1 of 53kt KIAS at 2646lb. At higher speeds the difference is very small but at lower speeds it appears to be much larger. Looking at the DA40-180 airspeed calibration chart indicates that 54kt KIAS is about 60kt KCAS in the DA40-180. Disappointing. Bernie

Correct, though the term you're looking for is calibrated airspeed. (autocorrect burn?)

[blsewardjr]

Yes, autocorrect issue (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

[dmloftus]

MOSAIC will improve costs. I don't think it will help much for solo owners like us.

Somehow or the other there needs to be a safety compromise... I personally not a fan of sport and recreational pilot licenses.

Absolutely not a fan. I'm really perplexed why AOPA is pushing it. Can't be good for GA when sport pilots start falling out of the sky in bigger, faster planes.