Your guesstimate: TKS for DA40

[Antoine]

Hi all

Now that I am back on board I have a question to the DA40 community.
There's about 2000 DA40s out there and counting.

Would you please guess how many would buy (costs are ROUGH ballparks, I have no idea yet):

1. TKS de-iced prop (fluid sprayed on prop blades and indirectly canopy and air inlets). Retrofit budget $ 10K
or
2. TKS inadvertent ice protection for prop as above plus wings and tailplane. Not FIKI. Budget $ 40K or so.

1. Is a nice compromise, low weight impact, decent safety bonus, moderate cost.
2. will of course cut useful load and cost a couple of knots, but in my case it would buy me the confidence of green-lighting a week end trip even if the weather forecast for the return leg is less than perfect. A higher dispatch rate...

What do you think?

[carym]

I can't believe I just saw this post AFTER I made the suggestion you will want to add TKS to your "new" DA40

[Antoine]

Cary, you read my mind even before I start typing. Scary!

[CFIDave]

I think anyone who seriously needs de-ice for their DA40 should just buy a good used DA42, since 95% of DA42s have FIKI TKS systems already installed.

That would probably be more economical than trying to retrofit de-ice to a DA40, which I'm sure (if it were even possible) would cost way more than $40K: 2008 DA42 TDI for $300K vs. 2008 DA40 XLS for $220K.

[Antoine]

Feasibility and cost:I have placed the question with CAV aerospace.
We will see what they say...

Switching to a twin has more implications than just the $40K price delta you calculated, Dave.
Some of us really like flying behind a single engine - and there are some good ones outside the DAI line-up.
Plus a typical 2008 DA42 will need an autopilot and avionics upgrade to match the 40 XLS.

This is why this thread is in the DA40 forum and not in the general one.

My question really is: how many of us love their DA40 enough that they would want this plane upgraded?
I am not expecting individual votes, rather that you share your "feel" of the market" and estimate the potential opportunity for either solution. For example, my guess is that 50 to 100 planes would get the $ 10 K prop and 20 to 40 would get the full TKS (that's 1 to 2%). I would go for solution 2.

Am I correct to interpret your estimate as "zero" Dave?

[smoss]

I would definitely shell out 40K for the full boat if it worked decently and was not too traumatic to install.

[Antoine]

Thanks Steve. Since the engineering can be cloned from the DA42 L360, I expect it to work decently. Dont know how costly the STC will be. lets wait and see what CAV say.

[Charles]

I would go for it. $40k would be at the high end of my acceptable price range though. It would need to include installation, taxes, and everything. However I would walk away if the impact on cruise speed was more than 2-3 knots.

And I would probably go for the supercharger at the same time. These two options together would greatly expand the usability of the aircraft in the winter time.

[Antoine]

However I would walk away if the impact on cruise speed was more than 2-3 knots.

Thanks Charles. At our relatively modest speeds, I would expect the impact to be about what you said, assuming a very clean install. FWIW I think the DA42-VI gained 3 knots from re-fitting the TKS panels.
And that was at a much higher airspeed.

Just curious: what is your DA40 model, usual cruise speed, fuel flow and altitude?

To all: can you also risk a guess? how much percent of the total population would pay 10k / 40K for the above?

[Charles]

I have an older 2002 DA40-180. Performance varies with altitude but around 8000', I run at about 142KTAS on 8.4gph.