Maiden Flight Goes Off Well Under The Command Of Diamond's CEO

There's a new Diamond flying around town... one with some serious horsepower.

It happened April 4th, 2007, not even a year after the first flight of the D-JET, making the Diamond Aircraft development team some of most sleep deprived aeronauts on the face of the earth. The single-engine DA50 Super Star boasts a MTOW of 3,670 lbs and conducted its first flight from Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Christian Dries, CEO and owner of Diamond Aircraft, flew the aircraft as pilot in command (that's what you call "taking charge" when the CEO is also working as a test pilot on a maiden flight... cool). Also on board was Soeren Pedersen, Director of Sales, as chief test pilot.

The Diamond DA50 Super Star is equipped with Teledyne Continental TSIOF - 550J engine, a 350+ HP, FADEC controlled powerplant with dual turbochargers.

Dries stated that he is proud that Manfred Zipper and his team made the DA50 Super Star a reality in less than 11 months from the idea to the maiden flight and noted that, "The DA50 Super Star will become a big hit with 350 HP big bore and with variations of turbo-charged diesel engines. I have a team that is unmatched in general aviation manufacturing. I know that they design and build the safest aircraft in the world."

Some time today, the aircraft will be handed over to the flight test department for extensive research flights in preparation for what is expected to be a production availability some time in January of 2008. ANN will have more data on this new airframe shortly...

FMI: www.diamondair.com