DA62 - Smart choice?

[ememic99]

Fully capable travel machine at a fraction of the cost of a turbine.

And at the fraction of the reliability of a turbine these days

I own 2007 DA42 for 11 years and in reality I didn't have any AOG except after lightning strike and when changing the engines (each lasted 3-4 weeks). Everything else was in range 2-3 days, including some upgrades (WAAS, ADS-B) and I can say it has been pretty reliable aircraft with no failures.

However, the situation that owners with new Austro engines are facing these days, is something that's very hard to comprehend and accept.

[Captain340]

Yes, it's very annoying to fly to a Diamond Service Center for the 50 hours inspection. Especially for Flying Schools. And there is a reputation problem for Diamond with the new AD. But in total they had only about 5 occasions worldwide (of all A300 and A330 Austro engines) with some cracks found on the pistons. So the whole issue took me a day (not more). Fortunately my Service Center is just 1 hour flying time away. In fact, they did it in 4.5 hours. Found nothing and my engine runs perfectly. Even today, the overall reliability is excellent.