The Diamond Pilots Association (DPA), a volunteer organization of Diamond Aircraft pilots and owners, is surveying private and fleet owners about their ownership experiences with Diamond Aircraft.
“This is our second annual survey,” notes Ed McDonald, the organization’s president. “It covers a broad range of topics. You don’t have to be a DPA member to participate, and we invite and encourage all owners of Diamond Aircraft to complete the survey. It should take only 15-20 minutes.”
The survey consists of 45 questions organized into five sections:
“Answering any of the questions is optional,” Ed explained. “We will keep individual answers confidential and secure. We are looking for common themes suggesting areas for improvement and opportunities for DPA to help achieve these.”
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WLX3NCT
Over 200 owners and pilots from 22 countries completed the survey last year. Like last year, the summary results will be published on the DPA website by the end of February 2025 and shared with Diamond Aircraft and several of Diamond’s supply & distribution partners.
The survey will remain open through January 10, 2025.
@chili4way will you be posting the results here?
Hi Peter. I will post an executive summary here on EuroGA in late February 2025. We shared the full 72-page 2023 survey report with Diamond and several of their partners.
@chili4way not an owner but fly the DA42 a fair amount, both in Tdi and NG form. The class rating, and the MEP CPL, require in flight shutdowns and unfeathering re starts. An interesting type characteristic is the need to build in extra height during these exercises because you may fail to get a successful re start, and you are then left with a windmilling propeller which will require height loss to windmill outside the feather lock to re feather. In flight starter re start can be tricky as you are having to operate around Vyse as you engage the starter when the propeller is not windmilling, and a windmilling start sometimes doesn’t get sufficient minimum RPM to get a successful re start. Let’s say these exercises can be eventful. Not sure if Diamond should consider a more robust type of unfeathering accumulator?
There are aerodynamic quirks to the type which have raised eye brows in the test flight community. The good ATOs brief Vyse as a hard number Vsse (minimum simulated asymmetric safety speed), and have a work around on the Vmc demo. The fact that at lighter weights Take off Safety Speed is under 1.05x Vmc is another odd aerodynamic feature.
Here’s a reminder to Diamond Aircraft owners and pilots about the 2024 Diamond Aircraft Owners/Pilots Survey. The survey will remain open through January 10.
