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Diamond DA50

Sad to see another fail for SMA engines :(

It is strange to develop a new retractable airplane in 2019. With a big Centurion, it will be a heavy airplane. I wonder why Diamond decided to do so.

LFOU, France

greg_mp wrote:

They moved from sma to austro engine finally…

From SMA to Continental. I believe at some point there were plans to build their own 6 cylinder 280hp engine but I guess those plans got scrapped: http://www.steyr-motors.com/uploads/media/AustroEngine_STEYR_MOTORS_press_releaseEN__20110303.pdf local copy

Jujupilote wrote:

With a big Centurion, it will be a heavy airplane. I wonder why Diamond decided to do so.

The CD-300 is 41kg heavier than the SMA engine (207kg vs 248kg) but has 40hp more, so I don’t think that is going to a problem.

Last Edited by PepperJo at 11 Apr 18:02
Switzerland

It also has liquid cooling and lower displacement, I guess, so probably easier to fly and lower consumption.

Jujupilote wrote:

Sad to see another fail for SMA engines :(

Sad but at the end, probably deserved… It is not the first fail for this 8 to 10 yo engine.
Actually conti CD300 looks like the Mercedes-Benz OM642, a well known, used and abused diesel engine with cheap parts, easy to find, and conti and austro have now a know-how on how to convert a car engine to an airplane one. I still don’t understand why so few diesel engine hasn’t been this way.

Last Edited by greg_mp at 11 Apr 19:55
LFMD, France

Wow, so the cd300 produces 300hp on 9.2GPH??? On a SR22 you currently get about 200hp on 13.5GPH avgas (65% pwr setting). So like for like, the CD300 uses half the fuel and burns cheaper JetA1.

Almost too good to ne true…

Switzerland

Of course not. The usual marketing speak. Max horsepower is 300hp. But in cruise, if you wish, you can fly it at 9.2 GPH. Says very little.

I would expect the brake specific fuel comsumption to be about 20-25 % lower than an IO-550 at LOP.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Yes that’s what I thought :(

I just calculated it: the io550 gets 0.405 lb/(hp*h) (from my data points above).
The best car diesels get about 0.326 lb/(hp*h)

Now if we consider about 11% higher density of jetA, it means the cd300 should need about 9.7 gph for a the same 65% / 200hp cruise setting I mentioned above. So about 28% less in terms of gph and 35% less in terms of $$$ (I assumed 10% lower JetA price compared to 100LL).

Contrast that to probably higher MX cost per hour and unproven design, and also probably higher purchase costs, it’s less of a game changer than it seems at first glance.

Switzerland

The market has proven wealthy pilots (not training schools) don’t buy SEPs without a BRS in 2019. It is apparent an intellectual deficit is in force if ones tries to defy this concept yet again.

If the market wants a BRS at the $1m – just give it to them rather than fight it if you want sales. Their spouse will vote Cirrus every time when they find the DA50 has no chute.

PF

Channel Islands

Does this thing still have a stick ?

Does this thing still have a stick ?

Yes. Basically, it’s DA62 airframe, currently with fixed gear but final version will have retractable gear.

Last Edited by Emir at 14 Apr 00:14
LDZA LDVA, Croatia

So a stick and no BRS. Sounds like a winning combination for 2019. Not.

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