DA40 in Seattle area?

Any DA40 related topics

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chocolatecake
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DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by chocolatecake »

Some day soon I hope to be purchasing a DA40, market gods willing :bow . In the meantime wanted to start building some hours with a CFI and then leisure time. Unfortunately both Galvin and Rainier recently got rid of their DA40 rentals. Anyone have a bead on an alternative in the greater Seattle metro area?
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dant
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by dant »

I don't know of any rentals right now. This is actually a big reason why I bought, heh.

Spanaflight (now a Diamond Service Center) down in Auburn is trying get some DA40NGs, but they haven't purchased any yet - to your point about the market.
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chocolatecake
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by chocolatecake »

Yeah that's kinda what I had figured. Hopefully joining the ranks more sooner than later.
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Rich
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by Rich »

I wonder who Galvin sold those DA40s to? Today two other DA40s showed up in the pattern here in Prineville. This is unprecedented :scratch:
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dant
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by dant »

I wonder who Galvin sold those DA40s to
3 ish years ago Galvin had 4 DA40s, all under lease back as far as I know. Generally at least one was always in maintenance and occasionally all 4 would be down. I think they consistently had trouble getting parts from Diamond as they aren't a service center. N489Y's A/P went inop and tried to kill me during my second solo cross country and it was down for over a year iirc.

N489Y <- Still seems to be in Seattle. Did my first flight in this plane, and also my PPL checkride.
N679DS <- Looks like it recently got ferried to cincinati. Never liked this plane for some reason. Has the electro ignition.
N856DS <-This one had a down period several years ago because the owner put a wrap on it. It looked awesome but he never got it airworthy so he had to take it off. I have a picture of it lying around somewhere. Now in KPAO looks like. I often had static issues with the radio in this one.
N722PA <- This was my favorite to fly during training. Looks like san diego now.

I bought 787DM when they moved the final two planes down to south parking. Over a half an hour to engine on from arrival and god help you if you need fuel. Add in the KBFI departure lines and distance to training areas and you don't get very much out of a 2 hour reservation. Kind of destined to fail.
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Jericho
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by Jericho »

The plane I bought last year N589T was a lease back to Galvin up to about 2016
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bitaria
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by bitaria »

dant wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 6:59 pm
I wonder who Galvin sold those DA40s to
N489Y's A/P went inop and tried to kill me during my second solo cross country and it was down for over a year iirc.

N489Y <- Still seems to be in Seattle. Did my first flight in this plane, and also my PPL checkride.
What's the story with 9Y's autopilot, and that plane in general?
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dant
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by dant »

As I was a renter I don't know the hairy details. Here's some stream of consciousness thoughts:

I heard it needed a new cylinder recently, though I might be mixing up which da40, and that would certainly be in the logs.

Other than it's maintenance history it was a fine plane to fly (an EGT probe was inop for a long time also). Looks like it was my most flown da40 at Galvin at ~34 hours.

I see you're the new owner - I would probably look at getting the prop balanced. When I picked up my plane I had no idea da40s could feel that smooth in flight. Others may have more information on that process - I only see the result sheet in the logs, and am not actually sure it's why this plane feels so much more smooth. Along the same line idling after runup feels way better in my plane.

I think it shudders a bit right after rotation, but I think all the galvin planes did that. Another thing I thought was just a property of Da40s before my plane. Might be because it doesn't (didnt?) have wheel pants.

I have the video sitting around somewhere, but for the A/P failure on the Lincoln departure out of BFI climbing out over the sound I enabled the A/P in HDG mode and it immediately started a hard right turn with the command strip blinking a red AP and blaring an alert. Disabled it, verified that I had the heading bug set to straight ahead, tried again same deal. Hand flew the flight and squawked it when I got back and it remained INOP for the rest of my primary training.
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maestretti
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by maestretti »

Thanks dant. If anyone else has 489Y stories love to hear them. For those curious, three of us Galvin renters went in on a partnership for 9Y and will be keeping her in the PNW. First time owners and thrilled to be in the diamond family. Been heavily lurking in the forums to gather info on operations and maintenance. Any tips for local Seattle stuff much appreciated!

I remember that AP inop period. iirc it was the whole DA40 fleet (GFC700s) and was some parts shortage and an AD/ICA that was due. It was a pain as I was finishing up my IFR training. I put about 40 hours on 9Y and it was always my favorite as the only DA40 with WAAS (at least in my era, the last two years).
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dant
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Re: DA40 in Seattle area?

Post by dant »

Frankly I'm impressed you found a parking spot at BFI!
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