Sun, Sep 21, 2008
Former Katana Now A Popular Flight Trainer
Diamond Aircraft tells ANN the planemaker delivered its 1,000th
DA20 this week, marking a significant step in the airplane's
history. The milestone aircraft was delivered to Maylan Flight
Academy, of London, Ontario.
Built initially as the Rotax-powered DV20 Katana in Austria, the
current DA20-C1 Eclipse model flies behind a Continental IO-240 and
is a popular flight training aircraft for many high-utilization
flight training organizations. That customer list includes the
initial flight screening program operated by Doss Aviation for the
United States Air Force, which operates the largest single DA20
fleet, with 44 aircraft.
Collectively, Diamond's two-seat aircraft have logged well over
two million hours of flight time, in some of the toughest flight
training environments imaginable, and with one of the best safety
records in the industry.
"The DA20 has been a very popular airplane. Especially in
today's environment, its 5 gph fuel burn in training, up to 600 lbs
useful load, an affordable price of less than $175,000, low
maintenance costs and very attractive insurance rates have led to
an increase in demand, in an otherwise difficult piston aircraft
market," said Peter Maurer, President of Diamond Aircraft.
"With an empty weight near the max gross weight limit of light
sport aircraft, the certified DA20 is a very robust airplane
designed for high utilization flight training, without compromises
in durability or safety," Maurer said.
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