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Thank you Dave and compliments on a beautiful aircraft and amazing trip. Wishing you and your wife many hours of great fun with this bird

Gnomad wrote:Would love to hear your thoughts on expectations, surprises, disappointments, and just your overall experience actually flying the plane. I could probably come up with 20 detailed questions, but I'll spare you for now!

I was thinking it would be good to start a separate thread on DA42-VI flying impressions -- after I've picked the plane up from Canada and had a chance to really play around with it flying VFR. Among other things, I've yet to try single-engine operation, short-field takeoffs, or determine performance when not heavily loaded to compare the dash six against TDI or NG model DA42s.

I will say that other than the minor issue of a sticky heater lever, the aircraft performed flawlessly on the ferry flights. So far I'm pleased with the decision to purchase it.

I was thinking it would be good to start a separate thread on DA42-VI flying impressions -- after I've picked the plane up from Canada and had a chance to really play around with it flying VFR. Among other things, I've yet to try single-engine operation, short-field takeoffs, or determine performance when not heavily loaded to compare the dash six against TDI or NG model DA42s.

That is what I was guessing. Looking forward to future thoughts once you've got her home.
Thanks again for such a detailed trip report!

Right after shooting the takeoff video we were referred to by ATC as a "Katana" (You fly a sophisticated DA40 or DA42 twin and you still get no respect from controllers who think that any "Diamond = Katana." )

Being referred to as a Katana is the ultimate of compliments.

Krea Ellis
N853DF DA-20-A1 "Princess Amelia"
N616ML DA-40 XLS

Hi Dave

Thanks for such a detailed trip report.

I have thoroughly enjoyed your pics and video. Spent a rainy afternoon showing my wife and parents your trip. Trying to convince them its time to upgrade to a twin!

Many thanks

Robin

Just a quick status update: It took a bit longer to get all the FAA documents in place to assign ownership/ registration and get a US Airworthiness Certificate for our new DA42-VI. Between the tornados that hit the FAA registration branch in Oklahoma City, and the FAA insisting on notarized signatures on documents combined with Fedex taking days longer than they were supposed to take for delivering international packages to Canada, we didn't actually complete the final step of the FAA issuing a US Airworthiness Certificate for the plane until yesterday. I'd really like to thank the Diamond Canada staff for being so patient and helpful as we worked through all the required paperwork issues.

So the final part of the trip bringing N42DA to the US is scheduled for tomorrow, when I'm taking the airlines to London, Ontario (CYXU) to fly the plane home from the Diamond Canada factory, probably clearing US Customs in Buffalo, New York (KBUF). This may be a challenge given forecast IMC conditions and potential for thunderstorms, figuring out the US eAPIS manifest and predicting my arrival in Buffalo with some degree of precision, filing my first-ever Canadian IFR flight plan, and of course remembering how to fly a brand new twin without the help of Fritz.

I'll try and remember to take some more pictures at the Diamond Canada factory during my short visit there tomorrow.

Hope you have a fun safe flight home! Congrats!

Our new plane is finally home to its hangar in Leesburg, Virginia (KJYO).

Everything went according to plan yesterday as I flew the plane home via a stop in Buffalo, NY to clear US Customs and get the plane imported. Here's the plane just before leaving the Diamond Canada factory. Note that it finally says "N42DA" instead of "OE-UDK":


I was running late leaving London and needed to arrive Buffalo close to the time I'd promised on the eAPIS manifest and phone call to US Customs and Border Patrol. So I flew at 92% power all the way at 7000 feet (with an airspeed of 180 knots, and a 20 knot tailwind, for a 200 knot groundspeed) and arrived within 1 minute of my expected time.

Then for the flight south from Buffalo to Virginia I chose to fly at 11,000 feet to avoid needing O2. I had to divert quite a bit to avoid heavy rainshowers -- showing up on the XM Satellite weather, and warned about by ATC. I had to race just ahead of the advancing storm, but had 40 knot tailwinds combined with a 185 knot TAS, so I saw 225 knots groundspeed on the G1000! (wish I'd taken a photo with my iPhone).

One hour and 20 minutes after leaving Buffalo I landed the plane at KJYO, and here are pictures of the plane parked at our "new" larger hangar:

CFIDave wrote: ↑Fri May 24, 2013 7:31 pm HF (High Frequency) Radio:

While preparing to depart Reykjavik, Iceland for Greenland, we had to prepare for the the use of an HF Radio. Why? The distances across the water between Greenland and Iceland (and between Greenland and Canada) where mandatory position reports are required are beyond the range of standard VHF (Very High Frequency) radio transmissions. At the lower altitudes flown by a DA42 the curvature of the earth (ocean) blocks the line-of-sight transmission of VHF signals, whereas the lower frequency HF signals can better follow the earth's curvature.
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Maybe someday satellite phones -- like the new Garmin GSR 56 Iridium satellite unit recently introduced for the DA42-VI -- will replace this type of system for position reporting.

@CFIDave, it’s my understanding that there’s a particular routing that allows you to do the Atlantic crossing “no HF”. Is that a new thing, or did Fritz just choose not to do it that way?

My flight "across the pond" when I wrote this was more than 8 years ago.

However, I've heard that if you cross Greenland via a more northerly route (that includes CYXP, BGSF and BGKK and avoiding Narsarsuaq?), you don't need an HF radio. I don't know if this is "new" or not.