diamondaviators.net

neema wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:04 am Just so folks are eyes wide open on Austro powered, twin Diamond ownership: our average maintenance bills have been over $30,000 per year for 6 years and 1300 hours of ownership.

I've also been flying a King Air 350 lately. Last couple years of maintenance haven't cost much more than our 42. Around $40k per year.

A Diamond buys you a very simple, easy plane to fly. The maintenance is eye-watering, for what the plane is.

This thread has drifted pretty far, but I'll join in!

$180K / 1300hrs works out to about $140/hr for maintenance or $70/hr/engine. My DA40NG has cost me $62/hr for 515hrs and that's before I pay for a massive amount of work related to 10 weeks AOG last year, or my annual next month. $70/hr seems like it will be pretty easy to reach. It's about twice what I had forecast in 2018 when I placed the order.

But to put it in perspective, boat owners never calculate cost / hr. Calculating the cost / hr would just be self abuse and take the fun out of it. And airplanes hold their value much better than boats!

I think we all do this because we like flying the planes, rationalized with some convenience factor, not because they are a great investment.

our average maintenance bills have been over $30,000 per year for 6 years and 1300 hours of ownership. Most of the cost is attributed to engines.

So I read this and my memory was that someone posted on reddit a while back about how the engine maintenance on a 42 was brutal but the gas savings is so good it makes up the difference vs a cirrus. Checked my saved posts and indeed I found this quote:

The crazy thing is, despite the engine maintenance costs, over the life of the engine, fuel savings still put you ahead of a Cirrus.

From someone with the user name "neeema". Who could that be?

I realize I'm not adding anything but I was so entertained that this ended up being the same person.

dant wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:23 am

our average maintenance bills have been over $30,000 per year for 6 years and 1300 hours of ownership. Most of the cost is attributed to engines.

So I read this and my memory was that someone posted on reddit a while back about how the engine maintenance on a 42 was brutal but the gas savings is so good it makes up the difference vs a cirrus. Checked my saved posts and indeed I found this quote:

The crazy thing is, despite the engine maintenance costs, over the life of the engine, fuel savings still put you ahead of a Cirrus.

From someone with the user name "neeema". Who could that be?

I realize I'm not adding anything but I was so entertained that this ended up being the same person.

Here's some math for that using today's prices at my base.

12,000' ISA

SR22T 75% 178KTAS = 16.4gph @ $5.25 gal = $96/hr

DA42 75% 168KTAS = 13.2gph @ $3.85 gal = $51 / hr

Savings of $45/hr or $9,750 / yr if flying 217hrs / yr (i.e., 1300/6)

The saving for a DA62 is a bit less, but not apples to apples since the DA62 has a much larger cabin and usable load.

Bottom line: Save on fuel, spend on engine maintenance and about the same operating expense as an SR22T.

But we don't do this for the money...

dant wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:23 am

our average maintenance bills have been over $30,000 per year for 6 years and 1300 hours of ownership. Most of the cost is attributed to engines.

So I read this and my memory was that someone posted on reddit a while back about how the engine maintenance on a 42 was brutal but the gas savings is so good it makes up the difference vs a cirrus. Checked my saved posts and indeed I found this quote:

The crazy thing is, despite the engine maintenance costs, over the life of the engine, fuel savings still put you ahead of a Cirrus.

From someone with the user name "neeema". Who could that be?

I realize I'm not adding anything but I was so entertained that this ended up being the same person.

Too funny. Glad you came full circle. I get pretty grumpy thinking about maintenance bills, but flying them is a treat.

You guys want to get grumpy about maintenance bills? Come pay my turbine MX and insurance for a couple years and you’ll get plenty grumpy! I still love flying the M600 so don’t mind … so from my perspective, the Diamond bills will be a nice relief, albeit at the cost of 90+ knots of speed …

Cheers

I know that TBM maintenance is up 50k, so M600 can’t be more than that. Regarding the insurance, it depends on hull value, so M600 can be twice of DA62 at max.

But we don't do this for the money...

I agree, but I will say that I've found a weird sort of dichotomy in my thinking about Money and Nice Things which is... I don't mind spending the money, especially when it's for skilled labor. But I also don't want to get rooked or otherwise feel taken advantage of. It can be difficult to disentangle the two when you're signing the check.

MackAttack wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:06 pm You guys want to get grumpy about maintenance bills? Come pay my turbine MX and insurance for a couple years and you’ll get plenty grumpy! I still love flying the M600 so don’t mind … so from my perspective, the Diamond bills will be a nice relief, albeit at the cost of 90+ knots of speed …

Cheers

Joel, you're missing my point. Our turboprops are roughly in line with maintenance costs on the 42. The King Air is more but there's a lot more plane and risk for repair costs. Even year 1, our 42 came out to 30k+ in mx. Half or so covered by warranty, but still.

My shops of choice may be the issue, but I like being a good customer and don't bounce around so the plane has a good track record for the next owner.

Your luck my vary, but I wouldn't expect a big change from your M600 in maintenance unless you rarely fly the 62 and don't hit many of your hourly items. We owned a Meridian for 5 years. Been there.

Well … we shall see what the actual cost turns out to be! I will be somewhat surprised if it turns out to be that high … but I’ve been wrong before. Our M600 costs were roughly in line with our pre-purchase projections … one point regarding insurance is that owner-flown turbine insurance doesn’t depend solely on hull value. The turbine insurance premiums are generally higher across the board relative to pistons, if what I see on MMOPA is accurate. But our M600 hull value is only about 50% higher than a new 62, so it will be interesting to compare insurance costs between them….

mfdutra wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:09 pm

ememic99 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 2:02 pm Anyone who orders DA62 has sufficient funds to fly behind PT6.

I disagree. Cost of acquisition is just parked money. The real cost of owning an airplane is depreciation, operation, maintenance, insurance, etc. Anything turbine will cost much more.

And comparing new vs used is unfair. I can buy a twin jet for less than a new DA62. I can buy new motors for the DA62 for a fraction of the cost of a turbine overhaul.

Owning a Citation Mustang right now and waiting for maintenance to be done I fully agree. But there is also comfort. My wife doesn't want to fly with oxygen so when my DA40 comes in December ( I will never fly a turbo IO550 anymore after engine failure) I'm really considering selling the jet and getting back to a PT6. But the Mustang rocks!

My 0,02 cents; I would go for the DA62 and not the DA50. Chute is nice, reliable engine nicer, 2 reliable engines best.