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The puzzle is solved. I had been reading snippets of information about a phantom 7 seat twin from Diamond but could not find any details. There were vague blog posts and links which lead nowhere but promised something big . Now I am happy to report the rumors are true: Diamond announced the DA52 has flown!

Thus far the performance numbers are modest but it is the initial flying prototype so changes are inevitable. A couple of details : 2 x AE300E engines producing 180 hp each (up from 168), 190 ktas (Herr Dries hints at higher) and an initial climb rate of 1700 fpm weighing 1750 kg .

Follow the link to the Diamond website for more information including pictures and video:

http://diamond-air.at/news_detail+M52783bf56db.html

We are eagerly awaiting updates as progress continues!

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Late in February, Angel City Flyers was greeted by four smiling guys on a flying vacation of the US. Emad, Johan, Jonathan and Mikael were building their flight experience while working on commercial certificates in Sweden and had come to Long Beach to build time. They rented a pair of DA40s and for the next four weeks were regular vistors to the hangar, always planning their next adventure to destinations throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Once the regional flights were complete, they started thinking bigger and decided to fly to Florida, turning their trip into a national tour!

The boys few thousands of miles during their stay and always returned with a smile. It was a pleasure meeting each of them and fun having them here in Long Beach. So, Mikael, Johan, Jonathan and Emad, thank you for flying with us and remember: Allting har en ände, men korven – den har två, och klipps den av på mitten – så har den två ändå!

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(With apologies Cameron, this one is very tardy!)

Congratulations to Cameron Shepard on earning his Private Pilot Certificate in a Diamond Star DA40! Way back in January (has it really been that long?) Cameron was progressing at rocket-like speed towards completing the requirements. He worked hard, arriving early each morning to study before his lesson and sometimes arriving before the doors had been unlocked! His diligence and effort were rewarded when, in the third week in January, Cameron passed his checkride and earned his certificate. What’s next? Cameron will (before too long we are sure) be flying for the Air National Guard or wherever his ambitions lead.

Congratulations again, Cameron, well done!!

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Those of you who religiously visit the local news stand when a new aviation magazine is released may have recently received a pleasant surprise: this month’s Plane & Pilot magazine is graced with Angel City’s own N199TS! As our flyers may remember, 199TS was converted to an DA42NG and it is this plane the magazine sought to fly for a review of Diamond’s iconic twin. The article is fun, informative and features several large pictures a couple of which (including the cover) feature the author Bill Cox alongside our very own Seosamh Somers. Grab a copy when you see it and perhaps Seosamh will sign it for you!

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Congratulations to Herve Fontaine on earning his Private Pilot certificate in a Diamond Star DA40!

As our flying enthusiasts will remember from a previous post Herve had completed his solo flight and was rapidly progressing towards finishing his requirements. The weather conspired against him on a couple of occasions (including a well planned cross country flight to Paso Robles) but Herve persevered, worked around Mother Nature and safely finished what needed to be done. No matter what obstacles were presented, Herve overcame with a smile.

(The smiles were sometimes accompanied by a short monologue in fluent French which may have belied his true feelings but cheered his non-French speaking fellow pilots nonetheless.)

It was a pleasure flying with you Herve! I can’t wait for your multi-engine training!

A new client stopped by today and mentioned a DA42NG variant called the V1. According to the Diamond website the V1 has over 20 speed modifications and broke 200 knots TAS in December using the AE300 Engines currently in use.  A link to a YouTube video shows a single-engine climb of 400 fpm at blue line at 16,000 feet and testing at FL200 (hinting at a certification to FL250). Little more information seems to be available but we’ll be eagerly awaiting further developments!

A link to the Diamond press release: http://www.diamond-air.at/home+M52087573ab0.html

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Congratulations to Chris Burton on earning his Commercial Multi-Engine Land certificate in a DA42 Twin Star! Chris had been flying a DA42 in Seattle (I’m a bit jealous of that!) and came down to Long Beach to finish his training. He was close to completing the requirements but the pesky Washington winter weather was working against him. Getting Chris ready for the checkride was a straight forward process and we even managed to have fun in the process.

Great flying with you, Chris & see you soon for the Citation Mustang!

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Congratulations to Lisa Laflame on earning her Multi-Engine rating! Lisa is working towards her instructor certificates so came to us to fly the DA42 Twin Star. Her plan is to add the multi-engine rating to her Private Pilot certificate then complete the Multi-Commercial certificate so as to log pilot-in-command time during her training. (She is a more-than-full-time seismologist so we suspect flying is a bit of a stress reliever as well!) Watch for more blog posts soon as we are sure she will do well working toward her goals.

Great flying Lisa!

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Congratulations to Dwayne Robinson on completing his second rating in a Diamond DA42 Twin Star! Dwayne earned his Private Pilot add-on in the twin so as to 1) earn PIC time while training for other ratings and 2) to have fun. His next goal was to complete the Instrument Rating and he completed the first part in the DA40 and the second in the DA42. Dwayne chose to fly the twin for his Instrument Rating checkride which added the IRA rating to both his single-engine and multi-engine airplane privileges.

Now it’s time to start the Commercial Rating and he’s enjoyed a couple of long flights which also fulfill experience requirements for the certificate. And yes, he’s still having fun.

Well done, Dwayne!

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Congratulations to Cameron Shepard on flying solo in a Diamond Star DA40! Cameron is “enroute” towards his goal of earning a Private Pilot Certificate and is driven to finish. He started flying in the beginning of December, soloed just after Christmas and is now eagerly awaiting his checkride. After earning his certificate, Cameron plans on flying professionally, serving with Air National Guard where we’re sure he will succeed.

Congratulations Cameron, well done!