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Friday, January 11, 2008

Diamond DA-42 Twin Star

Here are some pictures of a Diamond DA-42 Twin Star, visiting from Hamilton. The DA-42 is a substantially composite aircraft , and therefore is quite light for a twin [MAUW of just over 1200kgs], yet performs quite OK on its twin 135HP Thielert Centurial diesel power plants.

There is a saying in aviation, that if it looks right, it'll fly right. Think Spitfire, P51 Mustang, even C130 Hercules and many more. This does leave me somewhat confused as to how the DA-42 gets airborne, because I'm sorry to say that it is just about the ugliest twin I've ever seen :-(

Take a look at the empennage, nose, engine mounts. All of them on the wrong side of ugly :-) I'm sure though that the aircraft has some fans out there, and fair enough. I would expect that with a substantially composite airframe, maintenance costs should be quite good for a twin. Those engines are reputably not very thirsty, and using Jet-A1 should help to keep the operational costs down somewhat.

Anyhow, enough of my rambling! Here are three pictures of the DA-42 sent in by a reader. Thanks Nick!

Diamond DA-42 Twin StarDiamond DA-42 Twin StarDiamond DA-42 Twin Star
Photo credit: Nick Furmage
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9 comments:

  1. Air Traffic Control and Large Systems13 January 2008 at 07:06

    Great comments. Thanx for the pictures.

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  2. Anonymous13 January 2008 at 08:31

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Lad. The DA42 is a sweet plane to fly. With the stick the airplane can as easily be put up on a knifeedge as fly straight and level; it is quiet and vibration free, and the visibility is outstanding. My own airplane is a Nanchang CJ6 which tends to spol a person. But the 42 is a pilot's plane as well. (It could use a bit more power though!).

    Yakjock
    Lake Oswego, Oregon USA

    PS: From the perspective of our rainy winters, Auckland's sunshine is a dream.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris Nielsen13 January 2008 at 12:38

    Rodney, we call 'em DeathStars :)

    I can just imagine Darth Vader's voide on the radio when these guys make a radio call :-)

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  4. Rodney13 January 2008 at 18:28

    Thanks for all your comments folks!

    Chris - interesting! I've also heard of the Piper [Ted Smith] Aerostar being called the "Deathstar" before :-)

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  5. Flyinkiwi17 January 2008 at 12:46

    I remember the day I was flying with Chris and ATC said, "number 2 behind the Twin Star on 4 mile final."
    Chris replied, "number 2, DeathStar in sight." He was very pleased with himself.

    BTW we don't call them death stars because of any morbidity, its just a simple world play.

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  6. Rodney17 January 2008 at 13:28

    I know what you mean Euan, and as the "anon" visitor pointed out, I'm sure they fly quite nice.

    As you know, I fly at Wellington. We don't get many Deathstars down here, but "number 2 to the Boeing at 3 miles, caution wake turbulance" is a bit different to my initial flying at Ardmore :-)

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  7. Flyinkiwi17 January 2008 at 14:50

    I have two more comments to make about them:

    1) They have a very distinctive sound, most unlike other light twins.

    2) Those CTC birds are fully FADEC, and that fact alone is enough to give a hands on control freak like me a moment of pause before flying in one.

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  8. Anonymous21 January 2009 at 18:03

    A DA42 just went off the end of the runway at EGCH (St Just, Land's End). Three minor injuries, pilot trapped but released with cutting gear. Appears to be aborted take-off.

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  9. twin diamond21 April 2011 at 21:26

    images are so fine and well photography work.

    ReplyDelete