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We've now completed 4 straight calendar years without a single fatal accident in any Diamond in the US. And for all recorded history (25 years worth), fatal accidents in the US by type:
DA40-180: 7
DA20: 7
HK36: 2
All others: 0 (that's a zero!)
Total: 16

Outside the US, it's not so clean. All types have experienced at least one fatal accident over the years. The majority of fatal accidents in Diamonds are overseas. To include the US, I count 67 fatal accidents worldwide across all types in this same 25-year time frame. (One detail-there was one midair in England involving a DA40 that is classified as fatal that I excluded from this total because the DA 40 was landed uneventfully with no injuries to its occupants).

In a year of otherwise horrible news, this is both good news and hope for the future.

RIP those who have been lost.

That says a lot for the aircraft and perhaps some for the pilots that choose Diamond.

What's perhaps unappreciated is that there have been ZERO Diamond twin (DA42 and DA62) fatalities in the US since they were introduced in 2006, with perhaps 400-500 aircraft in the US fleet.

I'm only aware of just a single US Diamond twin accident -- years ago a DA42 stalled out over the runway at KLNS and collapsed the gear, and I heard that plane is still flying.

CFIDave wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 3:58 pm What's perhaps unappreciated is that there have been ZERO Diamond twin (DA42 and DA62) fatalities in the US since they were introduced in 2006, with perhaps 400-500 aircraft in the US fleet.

I'm only aware of just a single US Diamond twin accident -- years ago a DA42 stalled out over the runway at KLNS and collapsed the gear, and I heard that plane is still flying.

That is true. In fact it's true for all the diesel powered variants - singles and twins.

CFIDave wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 3:58 pm What's perhaps unappreciated is that there have been ZERO Diamond twin (DA42 and DA62) fatalities in the US since they were introduced in 2006, with perhaps 400-500 aircraft in the US fleet.

That's extraordinary and perhaps one of the most underappreciated aviation safety statistics. If correct, pilots should really give more thought to buying Diamond twins over Cirrus etc given the statistical safety advantage.

I compared my insurance with a friend who has an equivalent Cirrus. Let's just say that it was amusing and painful, respectively.

Check out this video... for those of us thinking about moving from a DA40 to Cirrus SRxx or potentially a DA42/62, not so sure a Cirrus would have been so forgiving in this situation:

AndrewM wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:09 pm Check out this video... for those of us thinking about moving from a DA40 to Cirrus SRxx or potentially a DA42/62, not so sure a Cirrus would have been so forgiving in this situation:

In this scenario, a post 2010 Cirrus (with the GSM86 gearbox, I think) would actually have performed better. The Cirrus has more safety features enabled on the GFC700 implementation than Diamond, additional features such as:

*Low Speed Protection
*Over Speed Protection
*Emergency Decent
*Level Button
*Auto Level
*Auto Yaw Damper Activation / De-activation
*Angle of Attack

The Diamond Garmin ESP (autopilot protection modes) are only:

*ESP (pitch/bank angle protection)
*USP - underspeed protection WHEN AP enabled.

The reason Cirrus would have been safer is:

(1) Angle of Attack System - would have annunciated (voice callout, CAS message) the aircraft was too slow by reference to the AoA.
(2) Rudder is automatically engaged on the G6 Cirrus above 200ft and disengages automatically below 200ft - so the Cirrus would have been better co-ordinated (even if AP is off).
(3) Low Speed Protection - Diamond has only USP (Underspeed Protection) which is active only when the AP is engaged. The Cirrus GFC700 would have nudged the nose down, like a stick pusher (depending on how close he was to the ground..., there is some limit).

In summary - Cirrus is not a ubiquitous implementation of safety features, one must look at it more granular. But assuming it has the updated servo gearbox (late 2010 onwards) and a recent software version (from approx 2014 I think added LSP), it would have annunciated, lowered the nose and remained co-ordinated - all things the DIamond did not do. This is the typical accident profile for the TBM - if one is so inclined, read all the NTSB reports for TBM accidents - very many are in this exact position where one gets slow, pours on lots of power and rolls over. Very typical TBM fatal (the reports will read as follows: 200ft, 1000ft, 1mile, 2miles short of the runway the airplane crashed because...)

AndrewM wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:09 pm Check out this video... for those of us thinking about moving from a DA40 to Cirrus SRxx or potentially a DA42/62, not so sure a Cirrus would have been so forgiving in this situation:

I'm pretty sure my DA40 saved my life one dark night while doing a go around for real. In a low, slow climbing turn from short final to avoid a mid-air collision with a plane taking off in the opposite direction, it was horrifying to look down and see an airspeed just above stall and the ball way off center. I had that same thought; Good thing this isn't a Cirrus.

Moving up to higher performance aircraft = risk increases, tolerance to error decreases.

The Cirrus stall is benign as long as you are coordinated. Even a skidding stall is easily recoverable but beware of the slipping (base to final overshoot) stall. Knowing where the dragon lives helps to avoid it.