Diamond Aircraft flew its DART-750 military trainer test article for the first time on June 12 and, as expected, all went well. The longish thin-winged hot rod sports a 750-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25C and is billed as an aerobatic trainer by the company. Diamond test pilots Soren Pedersen and Niko Daroussis flew the plane for 30 minutes and “covered all basic maneuvers including performance and handling checks.”
The aircraft looks something like the Beech Texan II and Embraer Super Tucano trainers that dominate that market (both have PT6 engines) but the similarity ends there. The DART-750 is all-composite and has a Garmin G3000 panel. Countries that buy the plane get simulators and software for a full training solution for military pilot cadets. Diamond thinks it has a winner with the DART-750. “The positive results make us confident in moving forward with the program as intended,” said Robert Kremnitzer, Diamond’s head of design organization.
Good luck, it is a crowded market already. One big selling point will be if it is significantly quieter than the others — I live not too far from a training air field and you hear the Pilatus craft they use minutes before you see them and they drown out everything when they go over.
The airport has been there for years, and used to have fighter jets, but locals say they were less noise than this lot and what are you going to do about it?
Air Force is reluctant to change props, so training areas are now very spread out…
Who doesn’t like the sound of airplanes flying over their homes ? What’s missing is the subtle fragrance of JetA wafting across the front lawn …