First Austrian Operator of the DA42’s Successor
For more than forty-years, Austria’s Riegl Laser Measurement Systems GmbH has been among the world’s foremost developers and producers of terrestrial, industrial, mobile, airborne, bathymetric and UAV-based laser-scanners, rangefinders and distance-meters.
For 15 of those years, Riegl has operated Diamond Aircraft’s DA42 GeoStar, a Special Mission Aircraft optimized for aerial measurement and survey.
Riegl has announced it was to become the first Austrian operator of the DA42’s successor—Diamond Aircraft’s new DA62 SurveyStar.
The ease with which the entirety of Riegl’s high-end airborne laser scanners and systems were fitted to the new aircraft evince the close cooperation by which the two companies’ long relationship has been characterized.
Diamond Aircraft director of Special Mission Aircraft Markus Fischer stated: “Beside so many already sold and delivered DA62 SurveyStar’s, this one is my absolute top favorite as I have been knowing [sic] Dr. Riegl since I joined Diamond Aircraft in 2006. It has always been an absolute honor and pleasure to work with everyone at Riegl Laser Measurement Systems over the last 15 years. To have the world’s most modern and state-of-art airborne scanner manufacturer as a partner and customer is an outstanding privilege. Looking forward to deliver [sic] this unit personally to Dr. Riegl and his team.”
Riegl CEO and certificated pilot Dr. Johannes Riegl set forth: “After many years of successfully using our Diamond DA42 MPP for test flights, the increased development and production expansion of our range of high-end airborne laser scanners means that it is now also appropriate to expand and modernize our aircraft fleet.’
Dr. Riegl added: “The DA62 SurveyStar is exactly the right device to continue to be at the cutting edge of technology also in the field of aviation for many years to come. Not to mention, that I also personally look forward with enthusiasm to pilot this beautiful bird myself in the future.”
The DA62 MPP is the latest addition to Diamond Aircraft’s Special Mission Aircraft portfolio. The all-carbon-fiber, low-wing, twin-engine aircraft is kitted out with a state-of-the-art glass cockpit and a fully integrated autopilot. The carbon-fiber material from which the model’s fuselage and wings are fashioned is impervious to corrosion and facilitates extended airframe life—even in maritime and tropical environments.
The DA62 MPP is powered by a pair of 180-horsepower, 2.0-liter, four-cylinder, four-stroke, turbocharged, fuel-injected, Austro Engine AE 330 powerplants. Subject mills—which are certified to run on Jet A-1, Jet A, TS-1 and RT (Russia, Ukraine), No. 3 Jet Fuel (China), and JP-8—are managed by dint of an active Electronic Engine Control Unit (EECU) featuring an integrated, single-power-lever design.
Mated to MT, MTV-6-R-C-F/CF, three-blade, constant-speed propellers, the engines motivate the DA62 MPP to a maximum cruise-speed of 192-knots and a service-ceiling of FL200. At its 35-percent loiter power-setting Diamond claims the DA62 MPP is capable of remaining aloft for 11.7-hours. The aircraft’s typical airborne operations interval, however, is six-to-eight hours.
The DA62 MPP’s 5,070-pound maximum takeoff weight comprises the airplane’s 3,505 empty weight and 1,565-pound useful load—the latter entailing the DA62 MPP’s eighty-gallon (576-pound) fuel-load.
Diamond contends the DA62 MPP—by virtue of its protracted airframe life and fuel efficiency—is the most cost-efficient Special Mission Aircraft in its class.
By way of definition, Diamond Aircraft’s Special Mission Concept is a turnkey solution consisting of a cost-efficient, fixed-wing, remote-sensing Diamond Aircraft platform, airborne sensors, data-links, ground-stations, global support, spare parts, tooling, transport, and appurtenant pilot, operator, and maintenance training.
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