Diamond DA-42 Twinstar rental?

[Vik]

Anyone know which FBOs in the U.S. currently have a Diamond DA-42 Twinstar for rental?

 

[jdlilfan]

I'm not totally sure on this but I think there is one for rental at Crawfordsville, IN. It flew in with some other diamonds at our airshow ( terre haute air fair) recently and that airport is a Diamond dealer. Pretty cool looking airplane and it has a huge wingspan. It flew over in formation with a Star before it landed.

 

[jdlilfan]

I'm not totally sure on this but I think there is one for rental at Crawfordsville, IN.

Ok, Im wrong. It is Greencastle, IN which is about 20 miles from crawfordsville. 4I7-Putnam County Airport

 

[flyboyzz1]

its not that cool to fly....trust me

 

[DX Rick]

its not that cool to fly....trust me

Did Mark have them out there? I figured he would, be an "appoved" dealer

 

[Jafar]

UVSC in Provo, UT has two of them. Of course, this is not an FBO, its a school, but it's relatively painless to get registered as a continuing-ed student so you can rent from them. (At least it used to be.) I'm working on my multi engine stuff in a Twin Star and I think its an awesome airplane, granted it's the only multi I've ever flown.

 

[NW_Pilot]

its not that cool to fly....trust me

I agree but it is great on fuel!

 

[Vik]

So whats wrong w/ how it flys? What is the rental cost that people are seeing?

 

[IHateDaley]

Waukegan Wings at UGN just had one delivered a few weeks ago. Not sure though if they rent it or if it's dual-only.

 

[flyboyzz1]

well lets start off.... all of these places people are listing I flew the airplane to them so I have some time. The props are always out of sync with no way to sync them (only has two power levers). The airplane is just as unconfy as the DA40 with hardly any speed diff. Although it is very simple to fly a student who learns in this will have no idea what to do in a trad. multi. Doesn't fit in most hangars. Less than a few weeks old, one of them already had a major fuel problem. Had to be flown to London, ON to get fixed. If the elec. goes out (batt and 2 gens) the engines stop because of FADEC with no power! Airplane is hot as hell in the summer and has a regular heater so its cold in winter. I could go on and on but these are a few. Only good thing is the amount of fuel burn. I've seen about 7 gal TOTAL at 80% power. But that still only gets you 155TAS at about 080. Just my 2 $.

 

[flyboyzz1]

O yeah I forgot a big one. Good luck flying this if you have less than 1000 total time and under 100 multi. Most insur. places won't let you fly solo unless you meet that.

 

[aldassy]

Galvin Flying in Seattle has one for rent. The checkout procedure is pretty straight forward, you will need some time in type (DOE) before you blastoff solo, but not nearly as restrictive as posted above (worst case scenario 15 hours). I've got a bit more than 100 hours in the airplane and it seems to work well for me. TKS works great, outside a Mooney or Columbia the speed is OK, I have seen 172 KTAS BTW. The props will be sync'ed if you keep both power levers within a 1-2% of each other. The engines will quit if you lose all electrical power, but isn't the point of a twin redundancy? What is the likelyhood of dual alternator failure and loss of all battery power? Yes there is an outside chance it could happen, but I could get hit by a car crossing the street tomorrow. We are in the business of risk management, and I don't feel that dual alternators present a significant risk.
New students will not be at a true disadvantage in this airplane. Multi-engine aerodynamincs remain the same (with the exception of centerline thrust) in any other aircraft. If at some point they transition to a Baron or Seneca, they will need type specific training in that aircraft, regardless of what kind of multi they learned on. Any plane should be able to be flown by a well trained, competent pilot.

 

[Vik]

Anyone know what the hourly rent is one these?

 

[aldassy]

$265-290/hr wet.

 

[Jafar]

UVSC is $173 wet, but as I said above you have to be enrolled in some sort of program with them. That is to say, a part 61 or 141 class or a "continuing ed" program. (Not sure if that last one is still an option, it was about a year ago.)

 

[F9 Buff]

$265-290/hr wet.

Yack!!!!!

 

[Lazy8]

$265-290/hr wet.

Plastic planes... you hit a bird and you've got a hull-loss. go figure.

g

 

[Fugawe]

http://www.eaa-fly.com/2.0/en/MainFlugzeuge.html

Naples, FL

285/hr

 

[aldassy]

Plastic planes... you hit a bird and you've got a hull-loss. go figure

The beauty of message boards, spreading misinformation to the masses. I suppose they will explode if hit by lightning as well??
Perhaps the high cost of rental has to do with the capital investment? The hull value on this is much higher than some old beater Duchess, so I suppose insurance would be priced accordingly?

 

[Vik]

I agree that if it gets hit by a bird its not a hull loss, but a lot of mechanics have told me its a PITA to fix composite airframes that are damaged.