DA-50 at Oshkosh

I was at Oshkosh last weekend, and had the chance to yank and bank (on the ground) in Diamond Aircraft's new DA50 Superstar full-size mockup. I sat in the Cirrus SR-22 G3 Turbo (think Ford Taurus), and the Columbia400 (think Porsche sports car), but to sit in the DA50 Superstar.....I was thinking...the luxury appointments of a Audi or Mercedes Sedan, with 6 cylinders of 350HP Teledyne Continental and a four-blade prop under the hood. All I can say is WOW. This is the airplane that the DA40 was supposed to be and the airplane that Cirrus and Columbia should be taking notice of.

Let's talk about size - the DA50 has about the same wingspan, but is about 30cm longer than the DA40, lending it a little more stability in flight. I had the rare opportunity to speak directly with Manfred Zipper, the designer of the DA50, who was a large Austrian man about 6'2" tall. His size played into the design of the DA50 cockpit, and I'm very glad. There is a huge amount of legroom and headroom in this cockpit. I would expect that someone that is 6'-8" tall would be able to fit into this cockpit, which is quite a feat for any airplane! Also, the extremely comfortable seats recline, which would be very nice for those long cross-country flights. The cockpit is very nice, with a G1000 PFD for each front seat, with a 12-inch MFD stuck in between. The FADEC single-lever engine control is very nice, and grasping hold of it, I can only imagine what the power feels like as the throttle is advanced. Let's see...power rudder pedals, power stick adjustment, circuit breakers on the overhead panel. It feels like you're in a Gulfstream corporate jet! The conversation with Manny was also interesting, because I got to hear his perspective about some deficiencies that he wanted to correct from the DA40. The landing lights on the DA40 are really on the weak side, and Manny didn't have a specific design for a light yet, but he definitely was looking into a brighter light for US night VFR flying. He couldn't really say what the cruise speed was going to be, but felt very optimistic that the target of 230kts would be acheived and perhaps exceeded. Good luck with your new aircraft, Diamond - there's a lot of work between now and 2009 when certification is scheduled!

Manny Zipper and his DA50!