But here, too, demand has proven surprisingly strong.īut theres a problem. Diamond sensed tepid interest in diesels in the U.S., where we seem bent on eliminating any vestiges of underground hydrocarbons. In those markets, where even Jet-A is $6 to $8 a gallon, the Twin Stars high selling point is economy and ready availability of fuel supplies. Not only did Diamond prevail with this design, it did so quickly and within four years, the airplane has become a strong seller, especially in Europe and Asia. To tweak the nose of fate with an extra twist, the new engines would be Jet-A-burning diesels. In a bold stroke that appeared to border on the delusional, Diamond announced the Twin Star in 2002 and in so doing, it broke one of the unwritten rules of aircraft development: Dont marry an untried engine to an equally new airframe. Thats why sales of twins are soft and no one has certified a new piston twin since Cessnas 303 in the early 1980s. If you own a twin-or want to-$500 fill-ups are couch change. Ready, Set…Ĭomparing a twin and a single with the word “economy” anywhere in the same paragraph has, heretofore, been absurd. Can Diamond really deliver on that claim or is it just so much sales hype? And with regard to safety, how does the Twin Star stack up against the BRS-equipped Cirrus SR22? Can the comparison even be made? We set out to answer those questions and our findings surprised us. But thats exactly the strategy Diamond seems to be taking, with a sales slogan that promises the reliability of a twin and the economy of a single, something we havent seen before. Twins have traditionally been pitched as step-ups from singles-higher, farther, faster and carry more stuff-but they havent often been sold against singles. Have things gotten so cutthroat in the new aircraft business that sales folk would actually stoop to such tactics? Not only do they stoop, they revel and it has always been so. ![]() ![]() “Now,” he says to the wide-eyed would-be buyer, “would you rather have that other engine out there or a parachute?” This, we are told, is an effective deal closer if the buyer happens to also be kicking Cirrus tires. Weve h eard this story twice from separate sources: A Diamond salesman demonstrating the companys new turbodiesel DA42 Twin Star drives the thing a couple of miles offshore over the Gulf of Mexico at 1500 feet and cages one engine.
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