DA62 on order or recently delivered?

[CFIDave]

I am wondering if the planes that were built in Austria typically have less of these types of issues?

My 2017 DA62 was built in Austria, and while its fit and finish was pretty good, there were some quality control issues -- such as the "DA62" vinyl decal on the tail that was installed crooked, an inoperative O2 system, a prop governor that wouldn't hold steady RPM, nuisance "Check Gear" warnings, a rattle coming from a mis-routed cable inside one of the landing gear wells, poorly-calibrated power levers, etc. I don't think there's much quality difference between Austrian vs. Canadian-built Diamonds.

You just have to accept that such low-volume, hand-built, bespoke machines can't have the same statistical quality control as high-volume automobile production.

[Boatguy]

Process / quality control at London is very poor.

I am wondering if the planes that were built in Austria typically have less of these types of issues? My plane was built over in Austria and flown over to London, this past week. I understand they do some additional things (not sure what) there before final delivery.

The list of items above is a sample from planes made in both Austria and Canada. Earlier in this thread, and perhaps also in another thread, you can find the story of @nworthin's plane(s) which was built in Austria; not a pretty story.

I took delivery of my plane in May. Literally as we were closing up the plane to depart, a gentleman came out of the factory and advised me that there was a problem with the paint on my left wing and that if I would bring it back and leave it with them for 48hrs they would address it then. The flawed paint wasn't so visible on the ground, but was glaringly obvious from the cockpit. I flew home to CA, then returned in July and left the plane for a two weeks during which they removed and repainted the entire wing. Had I been smarter, and if it would not have impacted the travel schedule of the pilot accompanying me on the flight home, I would have stayed in London two days longer and avoided going back to London from CA in July. Further, returning to have the plane worked on in Canada, if you're coming from the U.S., requires a lot of extra paperwork as it is considered a commercial entry and exit. You can only arrive and depart on weekdays, and there is additional paper work required at your POE in the U.S. for the "commercial" flight.

I also agree with Colin's comments about staying in London. Another alternative, a little closer than Hamilton, is Cambridge, the home of Waterloo University. I ended up staying there for a few days in July at a delightful inn that my wife now uses as a benchmark for others.

[Colin]

Ah, Cambridge is a much better recommendation.

It's an odd thing, but I have *never* flown a plane into Canada, or back out, for any sort of maintenance. I have often been traveling up there (my grandfather bought a place north of Parry Sound in 1950), and wound up stopping in at the factory, but the purpose of crossing the border has always been recreation.

[Boatguy]

The most recent contract date in the "Diamond on Order" spreadsheet is September 2022. Has the order book dried up, or is it just that nobody is updating the spreadsheet?

https://1drv.ms/x/s!AvDxwIigp7LegYYmt-q94A8l4xTbAg

[MichaelM]

We recently picked up 62.255 in Raliegh, NC, and flew it back to our home in South Dakota after a couple of days of transition training. Luckily, no major squawks right out of the gate. The 7-8 hour flight home was fantastic.

A couple of things to note.

• We did get the GWX 75 and it was installed and operating.

• We also did receive two Bose A30 headsets, but we had to explicitly ask for them.

• We had to futz around a bit to activate the XM and Iridium when we got there (just something we had not thought to do).

• We also had to sign up and install G1000 Database Updates since they were expired when we got the plane.

[Fred Claus]

Hi Michael, congrats on your DA62! It looks fantastic. I notice there is a blue level button despite that being in the 2023 marketing catalogue. Did they mention anything about this? As in, did they avoid pointing that out, did they say it’s a 2024 feature, etc?

See page 35 for picture of level button by gear lever: see page 35: https://www.diamondaircraft.com/fileadm ... EEN_01.pdf

[MichaelM]

Fred, we ordered the plane in July 2021, so that feature was not part of the offering when we purchased it. My understanding is that the blue level button is part of G1000 NXi Phase III. So they can't actually offer it until Phase III is certified. So I am not even sure that the planes delivered in early 2024 would have it. I suppose though, despite the loooong delay, Diamond is confident that planes ordered now (that will be delivered in 2026 and beyond) will get Phase III from the start, so they have added it to the marketing material.

I suspect that an existing plane might be able to have the blue button retrofitted into the panel, which I will inquire about when Phase III is certified.

[Fred Claus]

Thanks Michael, that makes a lot of sense. It does mention in the brochure that the button isn’t yet certified, but I wasn’t sure if that was still the reality or not. Didn’t mean to open the Phase 3 can of worms! I’m taking delivery in ~May, so I doubt I’ll be so lucky as to have it installed. Like you, I’ll probably get it retrofitted if possible. Again, congrats!

[Bryce]

Fred,
What interior did you opt for? I've asked my dealer, Garmin and Diamond if the button will be a simple RS-232 connection with a button at the Phase III update. Nobody seems to be able to answer that, which is unfathomable to me. Seems pretty simple, but maybe not. My question is how do people use the button in the first place? Pilot becoming a victim of spacial disorientation, or for pilot incapacitation. If the button can't be added, and the button is used for the pax upfront, then I guess the pax will have to be trained to hit the heading bug dial, AP button, then HDG button on AP. But the blue button would be pretty cool .

[mfdutra]

My question is how do people use the button in the first place?

I used to have the blue button in the Cirrus and I liked it. My primary use was to trim the airplane for me for level flight. But the idea is that if things get confusing and/or you get task-saturated, it's a good feature to "take a break".