Black Diamonds Aero

[Antoine]

I want my DA42 to go faster! I know it can!
I need more useful load for my DA40!
I need...
Can anyone help me? Please?

Up until now, the answer was a frustrating "no".
Diamond Aircraft shows no interest in upgrading the existing fleet.
Major aftermarket suppliers don't see a viable business case in working with us.
There is good justification for their attitude, as third-party companies operating on a conventional cost structure and a profit-driven business model.
So are we stuck with only dreams and wishful thinking?

Well that WAS true, when Diamonds WERE white!

What if WE changed the rules of the game? BLACK DIAMONDS AERO is our answer!

You are invited to join the

BLACK DIAMONDS AERO

initiative.

We, Diamond Aviators, join forces and set-up a company that makes STC'd aftermarket modifications for us:

BLACK DIAMONDS AERO.

We fund it.
We operate it as a lean, efficient internet-based international business.
We work for it as volunteers (yes: for free).
We use low cost, yet very capable resources such as universities for R&D.
We delegate manufacturing to professional subcontractors

We change the economic fundamentals and build a viable company, totally focused upon OUR needs.

We hold shares in BLACK DIAMONDS AERO. The value of our holdings increases with every STC added to the company's portfolio.

Whenever the time is right we sell to an established player and expect to make a decent return on our investment.

Makes sense to you?

How? Who? How much? When? Is this real? How can I be part of it?

Meet us here in 2 hours for the next episode of

BLACK DIAMONDS AERO

In the meantime, here some food for thought:

Who, better than us, knows what is desirable and useful for our planes?
And who, other than us, can put the passion and commitment into designing and producing the very best solutions?
Imagine how exciting and challenging it could be if YOU worked for BLACK DIAMONDS AERO!

(continued at 2000 UTC)

[Antoine]

Welcome again fellow Diamond Aviators.

We, Lance Murray, Antoine Edde, are inviting you to join the following venture:

The BLACK DIAMONDS AERO business,

a US corporation funded by a pool of aircraft owners.

We have imagined that 10 of us would put up $10'000 each for a total of $ 100'000.
Lance, Antoine and a third person have committed to their shares for a total funding of $ 30'000. We have another 7 to go.

As mentioned above, our idea is to make BLACK DIAMONDS AERO an extremely lean organisation.
We foresee no physical facilities and only on-line meetings of the management team and board.

What we do foresee is considerable interaction with the customer base, via internet collaboration tools.

All officers and employees are volunteers. This way, the « internal » cost of the STC process will be dramatically reduced.

STCs are only worked upon when funding of the foreseeable costs is secured.

At some point, the vision is to sell the company to a relevant aero partner.
Initial investors only benefit at the time of final exit from the company.
We alll benefit from getting the STCs we need.

The organisation we foresee is described below.

Fellow Diamond Aviators, you are invited to pick the role you would like to play: a supportive customer, an investor, a board member or a member of the management team, including the CEO position.
Kindly reply to this post to show initial interest. We look forward to pushing this through.

Lance and Antoine


Organisation of BLACK DIAMONDS AERO
The company has a board of directors and a management team.
These individuals interact exclusively via the internet. They personally carry the expenses related to their duties and claim no indemnification from the company.

Management team
CEO, also in charge of market intelligence, project selection, business aspects of the projects including pricing and funding.
CTO, in charge of specifying the projects and interacting with universities, subcontractors, business partners and FAA/EASA at a technical level.
CFO manages finance and legal (can also be same person as below)
Admin and compliance manager. Interacts with the FAA/EASA to produce and manage the paperwork.
Customer care manager: manages customer paperwork and logistics and handles customer care and satisfaction.
IT manager: In charge of setting up the collaborative infrastructure and keeping it operational.

Board of directors
includes the CEO, CFO and CTO as members, as well as one US-based President and one Europe-based vice-president.

[Rick]

Very exciting... I could be interested in this.

[Kai]

Sounds exciting, Antoine!

What kind of legal frame would you want to give this company?

[Antoine]

Rick: thank you, see PM

Kai: frankly we have not looked at our options yet. I suppose a US limited corporation should do?

For everyone, some more info about the organisation:

Lance is interested in the CTO job, and he has actually started working :-D
Me being based in Europe I am unable to do what I would have loved to do, which is the CEO job, so I am reverting back to applying for Euro VP.

Any more volunteers to get this rolling?

[Aart]

First of all, great initiative and a clever way to go about it.
I hear of lots of pilots wishing to get more speed out of their Diamonds, so there should be interest. There is the added utility of flying faster plus of course the simple fact that the market value of the plane is better maintained or even increased. I have done some serious soul searching and have come to the conclusion that I am not willing to spend much money or effort on speed increase. I use the plane for enjoyment only and often find myself cruising at 60% power just enjoying the views.. But I am sure I am a minority.
Willing to help out as a volunteer though. I may have some contacts in the aerospace world that could come in handy (spent my entire working life at Fokker Aircraft).

[Antoine]

Hello Aart

Thank you for the nice words and... for being honest about what you are interested in.

We gladly accept any help you can volunteer. Please PM Lance or myself about what you are capable and willing to do.

And once we have everything fitted on my DA40 "Black Diamond" I will come to Mallorca and challenge you for a race! :-D
The wine shall be on the winner, and I will bring loads of it with my 1000 lbs useful load!

More seriously: I believe in enhancements that increase efficiency, usability and safety, not just top speed, even if top speed is used to document progress. Less drag is better climb and better single engine performance... but that's just me and I respect your view!

Safe flights

Antoine

[Thomas]

Hello all my fellow Diamond friends,
I feel the same like Aart, great idea... I am shure this the way to get things moved in the right way. I like to help with my knowledge as an aircraft engineer ( SEPL up to b747 ... And F100..hi Aart - One of my heart plane with Swissair and Helvetic).
My Diamond .. A classic one with round watches... is my / sorry my wife and mine / our baby and we love it as it is... But of course it could be allways an improvement.

Regards from Switzerland. Thomas

[Star57]

Sounds like a great idea...let the spirit of entrepreneurship flourish amongst us...I'm in... !!!
I will take the VP of Canadian sales and marketing title.

[Antoine]

hello Star57

... and greetings from the Maldives, where I am studying boundary layer separation on catamaran hulls and dynamics of propulsion on underwater creatures. will be back online by march 2nd. meanwhile feel free to PM either Lance or myself with more detail about how you'dlike to contribute.

Back to my well deserved chilled wine now!