Attempted theft of a Katana in Utah

[Alin10123]

I flew a DA-20 for a few hours last summer. Great performance, very fast, and it will glide forever power off. I have heard it tends to develop a lot of MX headaches however.

MX? What's that?

By the way... am i the only one that has trouble fitting into there??? I'm only 6'3. I only consider myself slightly taller than average.

 

[LarryinTN]

120-125? haha, their website says 138 knot cruising speed.

Yeah, I guess it does. I don't have the POH handy but I seem to remember 120kt-125kt cruise speeds in the performance charts for the DA20-C1 that I rent. I'll have to look and see under what conditions they get that 138kt number.

It'll certainly do the 120-125 figure.

I've never flown the older rotex powered Katana's but they're slower.

 

[LarryinTN]

I'm pretty comfortable in the Katana. I'm 5'10".

 

[Jafar]

The A1 model with the rotax is definitely slower, it's got 45 less HP. The last eclipse I flew seemed to cruise at 125 or so. They're no where near as fast as the 4 seat Star. Now that Diamond put Hartzell props on the Star you can run at 2700 RPM continuous. I get 155 KTAS all day long in that thing.

 

[Jafar]

MX? What's that?

Maintenance.

I don't know about that. It's never seemed to me that they have a lot of maintains issues. Frankly I've had more problems with the Garmin avionics in the airplanes. So far, a 430 has died on me in a C1, a PFD has died in a G1000 Star, and the zoom knob broke on the MFD in a G1000 Star.

But as far as Diamond airplanes, I was always under the impression they usually required less maintenance than their other counterparts.

 

[Alin10123]

Maintenance.

I don't know about that. It's never seemed to me that they have a lot of maintains issues. Frankly I've had more problems with the Garmin avionics in the airplanes. So far, a 430 has died on me in a C1, a PFD has died in a G1000 Star, and the zoom knob broke on the MFD in a G1000 Star.

But as far as Diamond airplanes, I was always under the impression they usually required less maintenance than their other counterparts.

On maintenance. Well... the diamond that i flew the engine didn't sound 100% ok. But the instructor says that it's normal. But it made sort of a ticking noise. The noise sounded like "pinging" when you use a low grade fuel. The noise gets louder when there's no flaps and the engine is working even harder. Maybe it's a fuel injected thing i dunno. But the instructor said it's normal and they have'nt had a problem and not to worry. That noise did make me uncomfortable though. Even a 30 year old cessna i've flown before didn't have that problem.

 

[NW_Pilot]

My one rant with the Katana is not the airplane itself, but with those who want to make it seem bigger than it really is.

A year ago I was flying into Provo (the tower hadn't opened yet), was handed off by approach and cleared for the ILS. Upon switching frequencies I was met with a bunch of Katanas stepping all over each other trying to jockey for position in the pattern. There must've been 6-8 in the pattern at the same time. Just inside the outer marker I heard this guy say "Revolution 4CT is midfield downwind about ot turn base." WTF is a Revolution I asked myself as I'm trying to visually acquire all the targets out there. On about a 3 mile final I heard this guy call that he was turning base. This really got me perked up as that would put us at about the same place when he turns final. I finally queried the guy as to what I was looking for. He said he was the newer model Katana which is a Revolution. C'mon guys, just call it a Katana! Come to think of it, he was probably wearing epaulets and $300 Serenghettis and after full-stopping, was going to go to the mall to pick up those pretty Mormon babes in his uniform.

My aunt lives in Provo :laugh:

 

[NW_Pilot]

Maintenance.

I don't know about that. It's never seemed to me that they have a lot of maintains issues. Frankly I've had more problems with the Garmin avionics in the airplanes. So far, a 430 has died on me in a C1, a PFD has died in a G1000 Star, and the zoom knob broke on the MFD in a G1000 Star.

But as far as Diamond airplanes, I was always under the impression they usually required less maintenance than their other counterparts.

I will tell you why they are used and abused rentals! The few diamonds I have flown were private owned Excellent condition.

 

[Alin10123]

Have any of you guys flown the twin engine Da42? That looks like a nice aircraft. What do you guys think? It's a twin, cruises pretty fast at 172kts, only burns 12.5gl/hr total, and it takes JetA fuel which is much cheaper than 100LL.

Is there a down side to it? How does it fly? Hows the wing loading?
I think the regular 2 seater Katana has really low wing loading so the wind has a field day with it all of the time. It basically flies like a glider.

Does the DA-40 and the DA42 fly a lot more stable than the regular DA20?

thanks

 

[Jafar]

Have any of you guys flown the twin engine Da42? That looks like a nice aircraft. What do you guys think? It's a twin, cruises pretty fast at 172kts, only burns 12.5gl/hr total, and it takes JetA fuel which is much cheaper than 100LL.

Is there a down side to it? How does it fly? Hows the wing loading?
I think the regular 2 seater Katana has really low wing loading so the wind has a field day with it all of the time. It basically flies like a glider.

Does the DA-40 and the DA42 fly a lot more stable than the regular DA20?

thanks

There aren't many 42's out there yet, UVSC will be the first flight school to operate them, there's 2 of them coming down from Canada in the next few days. I intend to start my multi in one. (Got my private at UVSC part 61.) It's essentially a DA40 with twin engines. The cockpit and fuselage are virtually identical. Wing loading for a DA42 is 21.1lbs/sq ft. For the DA40 it's 17.4 lbs/sq ft. For a DA20-C1 it's 13.2.

I agree the 20 flies like a glider. The 40 is much more stable and pleasant to fly, in my opinion. Handles crosswinds better, less wild in turbulence, just an all around better airplane. Now granted, I have very little time but most of it has been in either the 20 or the 40.

Not that I have much to compare it to, but I love the 40. Fast, climbs well, stalls are a non-event, just a nice airplane. Throw in the G1000 and it kicks ass. The visibility out of a 40 is also better than a 20. The only high-wing I've ever flown was a C-210 and the first thing I thought was "How do you see out of this thing?"

I can't wait to get my hands on that DA42.