Unfortunately I had to head home after a couple of wonderful days at the show. I never thought I would get to OSH, let alone fly in which was quite the experience that I will never forget, and hopefully do again. The GA camping was much better than I thought it would be, and the whole show is just massive -- a must-do.
Obviously I sought out the Diamond stand as a priority. Seemingly nothing new, and when I asked about "the announcement" I was told there would be one, but there was no guidance as to when/where and so on. I would have thought Diamond could have had some indication on when they would be making the announcement, or tried to organize a little event or something for owners / potential customers?? My buddy and I were invited to a bunch of cocktail and other functions from other manufacturers, and by the way not just Cirrus, but smaller outfits as well. The "cringe-worthy" moment was when I was looking at the DA62, there was a guy there who obviously was a genuine potential customer, asking all the right questions. The representative manning the DA62 display could hardly answer anything, and when asked about useful load they rep said "I don't really know much about them, and although it can have 7 seats it's essentially a 4 seater and room for a few bags". I know Diamond has a distributor / sales network model... but come on Diamond, a little "quality control" for those representing (and hopefully selling) your product?
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to fly the G2 Cirrus Vision Jet. I thought it was going to be an "autopilot on @ 500ft" type experience, but I was really blown away by this plane. We flew for about an hour, and I had the autopilot on for maybe 5 mins. The thing handles wonderfully. Put it into a stall... non-event. Steep turns were delightful. Landing has a weird kinda nose down sight picture, not bad... just something to get used to, like all different planes. Much better IMHO to hand fly than a SR22. Cirrus have been talking about how they have made the G2 cabin a lot more quiet than the G1... if that is indeed the case, the G1 must be REALLY noisy then. The plane I flew is circa $3m all-in with maintenance program and so on, so is in a very different price bracket to Diamond, however there is no doubt that over time there will be a relatively good size fleet of these planes. Quick video from yesterday's flight... takes a little while to load though...
https://gopro.com/v/rD1mgn4y4ew1G