If this airplane flies as well as advertised, with the fuel burns as advertised, JetA to boot....AND can climb away from a problem on one engine, and seats up to 7, then the Baron is toast!!!!

Long live the Baron

I do not yet know enough about this airplane to dispute, but IMHO, saying that the Baron is toast compared to this twin is like saying that the Bo is toast in comparison to a Cirrus. Again, IMHO, this couldn't be farther from the truth. I assume (I can't substantiate) this is a composition air frame with an extremely efficient wing. I'm not saying blast off into icing conditions, but you can accumulate a fair amount of ice on a Beech and not realize a detrimental affect on control. I'm thinking good things are not going to come from ice on a DA62. Many of us are flying 35+ year old Beech airplanes, I doubt seriously that you will see any of those flying around 30+ years after leaving the factory.

Just thoughts...... Feel free to correct me where I may be wrong.

If you look at the sales numbers between the Cirrus and the Bo, the bo is actually toast AND the Bo does one thing well that the Cirrus does not. It's got two extra seats.

Composite planes are just as tough as a metal airframe.

My problem with Diamond is two-fold:

They keep announcing all of these great airplanes, but it never happens. DA-50, DA-52, D-Jet, etc. If they build this one great, I'll wait until I can see it.

Customer service seems very suspect. I wasn't impressed by the way that they handled the engine issues on the DA-42. If I owned one, lost $350K in value over-night, and then had to spend another $300K to put some good engines on an almost new aircraft, I would be super pissed.

Other than that I have flown the DA-42 and it makes you realize the possibilities, start it like a car, burn 10 GPH of jet-A total, simple. Agreed, the DA-62 could be a game changer.

I hate to break it to you but the Baron was killed long ago. Beech followed shortly after.

Alex,

Diamond renamed the DA-52 to the DA-62.
Also, Diamond has been good on supporting the planes in the USA based on what many Diamond owners have stated. Some Diamond owners thought the company should bear the full burden and issues of the Thielert debacle.

From my opinion, where Diamond has really dropped the ball is not so much support, but sales. They largely have seem to have given up on US market. Look at the scaled back advertisements, lack of show attendance and sponsorships.

Tim

Interesting. 49' wing on 5,000lbs. Does it include a back surgery? :D

Needs a big hangar, but its still very interesting. Fuel specifics are great especially considering price of JETA.

What is the price?

Price has to be over $1MM.

I can fly circles around this thing and have over $900k in the bank. If it had a chute I might have some interest.

The DA-62 loses on looks alone.

http://www.diamond-air.at/twin-engine-a ... /da62.html

Tracy, I don't think it's bad looking. It's a sophisticated update of the Baron with a t-tail.

I agree but from some reason ugly planes work really well. Why is that?

That's true. Look at Rutan's stuff.

OTOH, its about what sells not what works.

Because most of them were designed for function, not aesthetics.

Case in point:
E-2 Hawkeye. Ugly as %#$@. Holds several FAI records in it's class.
Fastest Turboprop over 100km course
Pretty much every time to climb record for Turboprop
Highest altitude, both absolute and horizontal flight.

And it's really good on gas.
And can land on a boat. Considering it holds the conventional landplane records in that category, with all the extra weight it lugs around for folding wings, tailhook, catapult towlink, and the fact it's a Grumman Iron Works product, and it still beats everything else in the class. And it's had the records since the early 90s when they put the 427 motors on it.

I'm sure the E-2D could do better, much better, but they aren't letting it's specs be public.

Then why do Formula 1 cars look so awesome?

Because sponsors probably dictate some aesthetics be considered.

And does a formula one look good because of it's shape, or because your brain associates that shape with performance, speed and legal insanity?