neema wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 5:04 am
Anyone have the scoop on where Diamond will add some more fuel capacity to the plane?
There is this item heard during the maintenance course:
"At the request of a customer, and it must have been a very good customer, they once made a wet wing DA62ER to hold more fuel for Extended Range. I asked whether they had plans to put that wing on the DA50 to give it better range. The guy said no, the full fuel useful load went to almost nothing."
When you think about it, every plane should have big tanks and a small full fuel useful load. That would give maximum flexibility for trading range vs. load.
Current: DA42-V1
Previous: Hang gliders, Paraglider, DA40(x3), Cessna 150 Aerobat, SR22
Agree on the fuel/UL trade off. If a wet wing can eke out another 25-30 gallons, I think Diamond will be alright. Might have to come up with a good story about post-crash fire survivability though.
Anyone know if a higher “worldwide” gross weight model may come out?
The additional problem is European airways under 2T payment free usage. Other than that I don’t see reason for 1999 kg MTOM for DA50 sharing practically same fuselage, landing gear and wings with DA62 which is rated to 2300 kg.
If it's anything like the DA40 this causes issues with CG and spins - the 40g is significantly more flexible in terms of loading. I wonder if the DA62ER is technically an experimental as there's no way they went through the full certification process for a single S/N. It's probably "here's a bunch of gas, don't ever stall. sign this paper and go nuts."
