Been a lurker for a little bit but not very active in posting.
My family and I are starting to get more serious in obtaining an aircraft for our family travels, and we are narrowing it down very fast to the DA 42-VI. Just wanted to get some other feedback from the folks here if there's something I'm overlooking.
Our main mission profile will consist of roughly 700 NM trip that we want to make Eastbound nonstop, and preferably nonstop westbound with summer winds, but okay with a stop with winter winds. 50% of will be family trips (2 adults & 2 children) that consist of roughly 600 lbs of payload, 25% with 3 occupants and about 25% with 2 occupants. Planning on roughly 150 hours / year for usage. We are located around Western Nebraska in the U.S. Predominantly are trips going eastbound over the Central Plains or SE of the U.S., with occasional trips westbound over the continental divide. It looks like Centennial, CO and Wichita, KS would be the closest Service Centers for us.
Spoke to the boss lady and these are the hard "Yes" for the aircraft.
- Safety, Economical, FIKI, Solid IFR Platform
We have experience using a Cirrus SR22 for family trips in the past and it did make her feel more comfortable with the parachute, but payload is tight.
Also, I have seen and heard a lot of grumblings with previous posts on the terrible Customer Service for Diamond, nonexistent communication from Diamond and the lack of availability of parts for maintenance. Was seeing if any of those have improved at all for Diamond users in the U.S.?
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and feedback. Looking forward to getting more active on the forms now.
~ Jonathan