Sitting on a heap of gold [was: You Know You're a Diamond Pilot When ...]

[Rich]

I will never complain about DAI because, in my opinion, they have exceeded their mission by having a support staff that can still give quality guidance to owners years and years beyond when their warranty expired.

Really? How? Can you give an example? You’re probably aware of many opposite cases where the support was below mandatory level defined within warranty period, like complete fiasco with Thielert or charging shipping for replacement parts within warranty. I’m not for bashing DAI but let’s not write fairytales how great their support is.

I have had no issue with DAI (Canada) support in 17 years of ownership. For one thing there are Diamond OSBs that have allowed me to upgrade my bird in several ways, incorporating stuff that later became standard:

-MTOW/MLW weight increase.
-Extended Baggage.

There has also been assistance from DAI support in getting parts expeditiously. Some recent examples:

- Jack point adapters. These do not appear in the IPC. Support was able to discern the part numbers and ship them. Not urgent, but I got them in a few days: $10 apiece plus shipping.
- Engine air filter. Urgent - got it within a day.
- Instrument panel air vent. Does not appear in the IPC. Not urgent but got it within a week.

And support for mods:
- When installing the MTOW/MLW nod, the shop has to reweigh the plane. It looked wrong for a number of reasons. I contacted Diamond Support to check on nose-gear/main station location. The tech went out on the line and measured a couple with the requisite gear. This allowed me to confirm my suspicions and a subsequent reweighing corrected the shop's error.
- Installation of LED nav/strobes. Diamond TS supplied information to the shop on how to deal with the grounding changes required by this mod.

The fact that my plane uses lots of industry-common parts means many types of maintenance/repairs do not require Diamond's participation at all:
- Almost everything in the engine compartment.
- Say what you will about Cleveland wheels and brakes, but brake and wheel parts, tires/tubes that fit them are ubiquitous and some of the least expensive things on the airplane. Replacement parts are often sitting in stock in any sizeable mechanic shop. Or hit a supplier like Aircraft Spruce.

FYI, there is a 1974 172 sitting in my mechanic's hangar with a broken carb heat support bracket and greatly worn intake airbox. The latter has corrosion/wear holes in it (allowing intake air to bypass the air filter) and has been repaired (really badly) at least once in the past. List price from Cessna for the two parts is, respectively: $11,300 and $930, respectively.

In summary, the only support complaint I have ever had was with MT, several years ago. But even that remains a one-off.