I flew the DA62 today.

Any DA62 related topics

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Antoine
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Antoine »

That's what I guessed Tommy. You are right I am in the exact same boat. We are now doing such things as taking apart the landing gear and doing non-destructive testing on all individual structural parts. (Yeak OK, we're also powder coating in "gunmetal black" because I though white looked stupid!).

As the project drags along, I have rented my friends' DA40XLS in the meantime (it is hard to find an EA400 for rent!).
Went flying yesterday and had a stunning view of the Alps in their transition from white to the glorious colors of spring. Lake Geneva acts like a giant mirror and adds yet another dimension to this scenery... I am so grateful I can fly, and fly here...

Despite the huge difference between the DA40 and Extra, I am now using every flight to work the skills of staying ahead of the airplane and nailing the numbers. I fly the DA40 above the runway and let it settle down just like I will need to do with the EA400. The 400 will need 12 more knots in short final but that's about it.

I am impressed by the extremely low budget you are packing your Aerostar project in. Half a DA42 is very reasonable for a complete rebuild, and it makes me scratch my head since the engines alone must have eaten up half of your budget. Did you actually get paid for taking the airframe ?! :D

Now back to the OT. Maybe Dave can tell us what he felt at the edge of the envelope? I'd really like a pirep on the NG's stall behavior.

A person who once asked me for a test flight of my DA40 had flown an NG conversion and he said to me that the power-off glide characteristics were clearly different, in favor of the -180. He said the additional weight was very noticeable in the sink rate.
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Steve
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Steve »

Antoine wrote:That's what I guessed Tommy. You are right I am in the exact same boat. We are now doing such things as taking apart the landing gear and doing non-destructive testing on all individual structural parts. (Yeak OK, we're also powder coating in "gunmetal black" because I though white looked stupid!).
The reason landing gear are painted white is so that fluid leaks show up better...

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Antoine
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Antoine »

Oops good point Steve. I need to give this a second thought. :oops:
Antoine
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Antoine »

Oh well, it seems Extra like the black too...
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Colin
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Colin »

I was going to mention how much I like the white parts of the DA42 because I see where stuff is leaking and blowing. Sort of a pain to clean up, but so much information lost if it is all black instead.
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ememic99
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by ememic99 »

I flew DA62 yesterday :) and I'm impressed how easy it's to fly and how stable it is compared to DA42. Performances, avionics (radar, sintetic vision, autopilot), interior etc. are really great. The only thing that I'm not sure about is if the engines are powerful enough - it was OK during the flight (climb, cruising, OEI) but I'm not sure how OEI looks like at MTOM (it was only two of us and less than half of fuel).
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Tommy »

ememic99 wrote:I flew DA62 yesterday :) and I'm impressed how easy it's to fly and how stable it is compared to DA42. Performances, avionics (radar, sintetic vision, autopilot), interior etc. are really great. The only thing that I'm not sure about is if the engines are powerful enough - it was OK during the flight (climb, cruising, OEI) but I'm not sure how OEI looks like at MTOM (it was only two of us and less than half of fuel).
I think you just answered your own question.
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by Aart »

http://support.diamond-air.at/fileadmin ... mplete.pdf

Page 5-50 gives you the OEI climb performance at MTOM (2300kg). As in any twin, a limited climb, but still in the positive in the the most common scenarios. If your airport is in the rocky mountains, 10000 ft, and it happens to be 30 degrees C you'll have problem.

I trust Diamond figures btw.
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ememic99
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by ememic99 »

Aart wrote:I trust Diamond figures btw.
Thanks for the link. Diamond figures are reliable and Manual is consistent with what I saw during the flight. The question is if this is sufficient or not.
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Re: I flew the DA62 today.

Post by CFIDave »

The "sufficiency" of the DA62's single-engine climb rate is for you to decide, but it's worth comparing to other modern light twins.

A Baron/Seminole/Seneca twin when losing one engine will "drift down" to about 6000 feet before being able to level off, let alone climb. So at typical cruise altitudes, you're going to descend.

In contrast, the turbocharged Austro engines of the DA62 and DA42-VI allow these planes (depending on temperature) to climb to 13,000 and 18,000 feet respectfully -- since turbos allow these engines to maintain full power up to more than 10,000 feet.
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