Diamond's DJet first flight

[Corona]

Diamond flew their single-engine jet on its maiden test flight Tuesday evening. Not the most attractive jet to grace the skies, but they are aiming at an interesting market niche.:beer: Congrats to 'em!

The video took forever to load, for some reason.

http://www.diamondair.com/news/2006_04_18.php


C

 

[F9 Buff]

Yeah, that plane definetly needs a flashy paint job or some slick stipes or somethiing. Bare white like that doesn't do too much for it.

 

[sleddriver71]

Pretty cool to finally see it take flight.

 

[minitour]

That would be neat to have one....

I wonder how many billion hours and what simulator course insurance companies are going to demand of it's pilots.

-mini

 

[Piper877]

That would be neat to have one....

I wonder how many billion hours and what simulator course insurance companies are going to demand of it's pilots.

-mini

At least 17 lunar landings I think are the mins to get insurance.

It'll go up exponentially once a few doctors kill themselves.

 

[crash-proof]

Man that thang is fuuuu-gly!

I'd put it in the same cateogory as the Premier, in appearance. Ugh

 

[minitour]

At least 17 lunar landings I think are the mins to get insurance.

ah...lunar landings must mean it's the NASA Initial and recurrent training program.

...and don't forget the type rating. Any guess on what that's gonna cost? 12k? 15k? More?

-mini

 

[Corona]

ah...lunar landings must mean it's the NASA Initial and recurrent training program.

...and don't forget the type rating. Any guess on what that's gonna cost? 12k? 15k? More?

-mini

I think Diamond specifically engineered the Djet to be a next-generation Bonanza; high-performance without all the normal "risks" ie, no V-tail falling off, etc. With new TCAS and GPWS & a real radar system, it hopefully won't get the Bonanza's reputation. Plus, it's limited to below FL250, so that eliminates some other requirements like the standard jet O2 masks.

It is supposed to market for around 800K, which is probably around new Baron territory pricewise.

What could a type ride entail? I mean, the Eclipse type is $7-8K, and it has two engines, FMS and goes to FL390 or whatever. The Djet should be dirt simple. Which, I gather, was the original intent.

Should be interesting.

C

 

[sleddriver71]

I think Diamond specifically engineered the Djet to be a next-generation Bonanza; high-performance without all the normal "risks" ie, no V-tail falling off, etc. With new TCAS and GPWS & a real radar system, it hopefully won't get the Bonanza's reputation. Plus, it's limited to below FL250, so that eliminates some other requirements like the standard jet O2 masks.

It is supposed to market for around 800K, which is probably around new Baron territory pricewise.

What could a type ride entail? I mean, the Eclipse type is $7-8K, and it has two engines, FMS and goes to FL390 or whatever. The Djet should be dirt simple. Which, I gather, was the original intent.

Should be interesting.

C

I think all the normal risks you were referring to were the pilots who didn't know what they were doing. I'm sure the Djet will be even safer than the Bonanza but there will be some dumb, rich low time pilots that will get into one and kill themselves. I didn't realize it was only certified to FL250, that seems pretty low for a jet. That is about the optimum altitude, maybe a little higher, for a lot of turboprops.