Diamond Aircraft was presented with the FAA type certificate for its single-engine, retractable-gear DA50 RG in a ceremony held on Tuesday at EAA AirVenture 2023. Immediately following the event, the first DA50 RG was delivered to U.S. customer Jordan Cram via Diamond dealer Premier Aircraft Sales. Concurrently with the DA50 RG, Continental Aerospace announced that it has received the FAA validated type certificate (VTC) for its CD-300 Jet-A-burning piston engine, which powers the model.
“Our revolutionary DA50 RG is getting overwhelming high praise from everyone that flies it. Its combination of cabin size, utility, performance and efficiency paired with environmentally friendly jet fuel engines make it an ideal aircraft for the U.S. market,” said Diamond Aircraft Group CEO Liqun (Frank) Zhang. “We have been eagerly waiting for this next milestone and are extremely proud to be offering this great aircraft, alongside our popular singles and twins.”
The five-seat Diamond DA50 RG offers a top speed of 181 knots, 754-NM range with 30-minute reserve and maximum useful load of 1,210 pounds. It comes equipped with a Garmin G1000NXi flight deck and three-blade MT hydraulic variable pitch propeller. The model flew for the first time in 2019 and, as shown in the video below, made its AirVenture debut in 2021. Base price for the DA50 RG is $1.15 million.
I really like this plane. I think it offers a lot but with a price tag of over a million who can afford it? The cost of planes, even used ones has just gotten beyond the reach of even middle income people. The industry is killing itself.
It’s not the industry killing itself, it’s government policy killing the industry with help from the industry and, unfortunately, the pilot community.
Your comment gave me an idea though. If we take a certified plane and compare it with a very similar experimental, it might help suss out how much the premium is for certified planes. Some of this is a big ole check for manufacturer’s liability which is much higher for certified over experimental. For an older model, the certification costs are paid for, but newer models are still paying off that cost. Anyways, might be illuminating.
That and we cannot forget all the frivolous lawsuits that really started the insane increase in GA ownership costs. Remember in the mid-late 1980s when major piston GA manufacturers like Cessna stopped making them for several years.
I remember it very well because I was learning how to fly in 1987 and our flight school had a hard time finding newer 172s or older ones that weren’t beat to death. They had one nice 1986 172P with all the latest avionics and we were all fighting to get time in it over their beater 1970s era 172M-Ns.
Those lawsuits are often frivolous simply because NTSB findings are not admissible. Honestly, there’s really good reasons for that, but we might ought to revisit it. Pharmaceutical companies get special protections for some of their products because it’s deemed to be in the common good, and if GA manufacturers are being kept from a good defense for the common good as well, they are need effective protection which they obviously are not getting.
Beautiful plane. Would be at the top of my list if I had that kind of money. However, the Jet-A thing kills me. It’s more environmentally friendly DIESEL which is undoubtedly true. It does this at altitude with no diesel emission fluid or catalytic converters or anything else. Makes you think about the scam happening in automobiles.
Yes, keep them flying. As safely as possible. Lest the luddites that didn’t witness WW2 start claiming it didn’t happen.
It’s a nice plane, but in my opinion there is an interesting parallel with the cars from Audi. It seems to me that Audi designs have suffered since their lead designer moved to Kia. Similarly, since Dries sold to the ChiComs, the resulting planes seem a bit off even though clearly with the same DNA.
If I were still selling Diamonds, I’d be making a map of trained mechanics for the engine, because if I were buying one, I’d demand one before stroking out that check.