DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Any DA42 related topics.

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Colin
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Re: DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Post by Colin »

Tim is correct. The design was changed and an AD issued. No currently airworthy plane could have the same accident. They walked away, so I consider that a win all around. If I had the same issue (arriving at the airport to dead batteries) I'd be on the phone with my mechanic about it. I wouldn't be in a hurry to leave. I'm pretty sure I'd climb to a safe altitude before touching any control, but maybe they did and that's why they landed safely in a field.
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CFIDave
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Re: DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Post by CFIDave »

It's because of this accident that all Diamond diesel aircraft now have backup ECU batteries onboard, and why we have to replace these batteries annually.

From 5 years of owning Diamond diesel twins, I now have a nice collection of 20 only-slightly-used Panasonic 12V batteries sitting in my garage. Maybe I'll make a UPS out of them someday.
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Rich
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Re: DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Post by Rich »

I can very accurately deduce Hobbs time from Tach time for almost any normal flight. Simply add .2 hour to the VM1000 elapsed time cover taxi, run-up, taxi to the hangar/tiedown. Save waiting for IFR release or exceptional traffic before takeoff, this is always what it turns out to be.
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carym
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Re: DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Post by carym »

CFIDave wrote:It's because of this accident that all Diamond diesel aircraft now have backup ECU batteries onboard, and why we have to replace these batteries annually.

From 5 years of owning Diamond diesel twins, I now have a nice collection of 20 only-slightly-used Panasonic 12V batteries sitting in my garage. Maybe I'll make a UPS out of them someday.
Since my plane did not have a cigarette lighter, I used these batteries to keep my iPad/iPhone charged during flight. I bought a cigarette lighter from RadioShack, put a double USB port into the cigarette lighter, and connected the lighter to the 12V battery which I stored behind my seat. This was a lot less expensive than adding a cigarette lighter (or USB port) to the plane's electrical system.
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Paul
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Re: DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Post by Paul »

dgger wrote:
ememic99 wrote:
CFIDave wrote:
Another example are PA-46 loss-of-control accident. Yes, clearly losing control of an aircraft is a pilot error. Yet, I would not feel good in an aircraft that requires me to be an better-than-average pilot to be safe.
Slightly off topic but the PA-46 has magnificently forgiving flight characteristics It's almost DA-40 like for a cabin class airframe. I think many of the accidents in this airframe that are classified as loss of control are related to weather penetration or VMC into IMC spatial disorientation. A straight stall spin kind of accident is rare. I do agree with you that a great airframe can mitigate pilot error and a really unforgiving one is asking for trouble. Nobody does this better than Diamond. For an entry level plane, I think Cirrus makes a product that could use some improvement in this area.
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dgger
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Re: DA42 vs Fatal Accidents

Post by dgger »

Paul wrote: Slightly off topic but the PA-46 has magnificently forgiving flight characteristics It's almost DA-40 like for a cabin class airframe. I think many of the accidents in this airframe that are classified as loss of control are related to weather penetration or VMC into IMC spatial disorientation. A straight stall spin kind of accident is rare. I do agree with you that a great airframe can mitigate pilot error and a really unforgiving one is asking for trouble. Nobody does this better than Diamond. For an entry level plane, I think Cirrus makes a product that could use some improvement in this area.
Paul, I was not trying to suggest, that there is something wrong with the Malibu frame. Reading through accident reports it was my observation that there could be a significant number of similar pilot mishaps. Admittedly, I do not have many hours in the Meridian, but I would not be suprised to learn that a LOC type of accident is more likely in one - simply because things happen much faster and margins are narrower in a light airframe with a PT6 bolted to it; so powerful that it even allows you to easily exceed Vne while climbing out maintaining 1000+ fpm.

And yes, Dave, Collin, Tim, I am with you on everything you said. I had wanted to say, that I often find it difficult to clearly distinguish between pilot mistakes and aircraft issues. Other than the Speyer accident take the poor chap that got hit by a lightning strike. Again, you can call this a pilot mistake as not flying into an area where lightning might occur clearly would have prevented the accident, but given the circumstances (IIRC he was quite far away from the cell) I am not sure I could say it would not ever happen to me. My expectation and hope would rather be to be in an aircraft that does not fall out of the sky taking a single strike.
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