First flight of the retractable DA50

Any DA50 related topics.

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yl472401
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by yl472401 »

Bavarian911 wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:11 pm OMG, such a nice airplane but such poor marketing. I like the size of the cabin, but it’s a relatively heavy and slow plane without CAPS or autoland. Wife said “no”
After all, it's the voice from the higher command matters :D :D :D
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by arel »

Anyone know when we’re going to get pricing on this thing? It’s been certified in Europe for a while …
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by yl472401 »

So far my wife hasn't been convinced to ride with me yet, nor does she allow kids to ride along, even though I took kids out for a spin every now and then. But she's not against me flying on a good day now. Hopefully she can understand the concept of "the cheapest investment for flight safety is to fly more and be proficient". I know it's paradoxical. But it's the same as what we do in our primary profession.
Colin wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 10:21 am Tommy,

My wife rejects your argument because she is not arguing from a rational place. Emotionally, she worries I will have a stroke and strand her and the family in the sky with no way down to live. We have discussed a parachute, but she's not really interested. We've discussed pinch hitter courses, but she knows herself well enough that she knows she wouldn't be landing the plane, she'd be too upset to do that if something had happened to me.

When I showed her the autoland button video she was *very* interested. Until she saw the price of the plane we needed. Now I think she is just biding her time until the price comes down or the bank accounts rise to meet it.

She cares about how proficient I am, and suggests "you should go flying" if I haven't been up in a while, but there is a very low probability event with catastrophic results that occupies some of her thoughts when we are in the plane.
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by CFIDave »

arel wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 3:53 pm Anyone know when we’re going to get pricing on this thing? It’s been certified in Europe for a while …
Rumor has it that the DA50 will be displayed at the Diamond exhibit at AirVenture Oshkosh this year. I'm guessing that's when pricing for North America may become available.
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by arel »

CFIDave wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 7:00 pm
arel wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 3:53 pm Anyone know when we’re going to get pricing on this thing? It’s been certified in Europe for a while …
Rumor has it that the DA50 will be displayed at the Diamond exhibit at AirVenture Oshkosh this year. I'm guessing that's when pricing for North America may become available.
Works for me! I'll be there opening day!
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by caseyayers »

This is what I was told at Sun 'n Fun, as well. Looking forward to learning more soon!
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by photoSteveZ »

ZAV wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 4:20 pm My prediction is that the Panthera outsells DA50 in the US.

I’ll be ready for something other than my DA40 in 3-4 yrs. the DA50 as advertised won’t get a look. Better options at those prices are available.
I’ve flown the Panthera and own both a Pipistrel Virus SWiS and a DA62. Those are three completely different airplanes, obviously. My sense of the Panthera is that it’s sleek, sexy, low-slung (watch out for those taxiway signs!), reasonably fast, reasonably economical to operate...and not quite a mature design. Control harmony is mediocre: the ailerons are too heavy compared to the elevator and rudder. Visibility over the nose during ground ops, takeoff and landing is poor. You strap on the Panthera: everything is in easy reach, but there’s not a lot of room. The retractable gear system has a zillion doors (I don’t recall the actual number, but it’s a lot of doors; on the demo aircraft one of the nose gear doors had already been dinged and removed). Useful load is modest. No anti-icing option is available.

Furthermore, in my experience, Pipistrel’s N American support network is, at best, no better than Diamond’s. For whatever reasons, Eastern Europeans have yet to really embrace a customer-centric mindset. With a complex and unproven aircraft like the Panthera, that could be a real sticking point.
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by sedatedokc »

arel wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 3:53 pm Anyone know when we’re going to get pricing on this thing? It’s been certified in Europe for a while …
Dealers have pricing on it and Ive seen it. AFAIK i cant be very specfic, but suffice to say it is almost exactly the same as the DA42. Meaning, typically configured, both the DA42 and DA50 are about 950k euros / $1.1m usd with most of the options selected, before VAT / sales tax. DA50 comes out a little cheaper, basically the price of the DA42 minus the radar which is not available on the DA50.
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by caseyayers »

Any idea if we’ll see an increase in max gross (and subsequently useful load) for the North American version? I recall the European specs seeming to be limited for tax reasons.
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Re: First flight of the retractable DA50

Post by CFIDave »

caseyayers wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 1:51 am Any idea if we’ll see an increase in max gross (and subsequently useful load) for the North American version? I recall the European specs seeming to be limited for tax reasons.
I would hope so, but that will depend on FAA certification. (European ATC fees jump above 1999 kg.; fortunately we don't have this issue in the US.)

The DA50 shares many components (including main landing gear, fuselage/cabin, and outboard wings) with the DA62 that has a max gross weight of 2300 kg, so the DA50 structure should be able to accommodate a higher maximum gross weight (mass).

Also IMHO the 50 gal fuel capacity of the European DA50NG is inadequate, resulting in insufficient range. If the plane can be certified with a higher maximum weight (mass), then maybe Diamond can figure out how to fit some auxiliary fuel tanks into the inboard wing structure -- analogous to the DA42/DA62 AUX fuel tanks that fit into the aft engine nacelles.
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