Diamond announced last week the first flight of the DA50 Magnum, the one equipped with the new Austro Engine AE 300 Jet-A1 piston engine. Once again, Diamond CEO Christian Dries was the pilot in command on this flight, and was assisted by Soeren Pedersen as chief test pilot.
This is one more step towards the development of the high-performance, “full plastic” airplane. Modern airframe, modern avionics, and modern engine. There is however something that surprised me in Diamond’s press release: it describes the DA50 Magnum as a four seater, whereas the DA50 SuperStar is a five seater. I don’t know if they sacrificed a seat to more payload, or for other reasons.
I flew a lot of 5 and 6 seater (Saratoga and Bonanza), and even if I admit I seldom had more than three passengers, I always enjoyed the extra room for their comfort, and as extra luggage space. I’m waiting for more details from Diamond before telling more on this topic…
Before we get more information, and may be the chance to fly a DA-50, here are some pictures from Diamond.
You can also click here for more information about the DA50 SuperStar.
Vincent Lambercy is a Swiss private pilot now living in Germany. He holds a private pilot certificate with single-engine, multi-engine and instrument ratings and has logged more than 430 hours of flight.
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The AE300 is only about 165HP compared to the 350HP fitted to the Superstar. As one might expect, the useful load is down a bit – 300lb or so according to the figures quoted (which are bound to change).
I guess that might explain the Magnum being fitted out as a 4 rather than 5 seater. Should be a spaceous 4 seater, though.
Roll on a viable 300+HP diesel – presumably not from Thielert now.
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