Tough Duty... Interesting Application

Of all the things we can think to do with a Diamond DA42 TwinStar, we're not sure that looking for landmines or explosives is ANYWHERE near the top of our list.

Nope... we checked, not even close.

As a matter of fact, we're kinda more positively disposed towards flying around looking for cute girls working airport desks than we are in looking for things that go BOOM... but we're just kinda weird that way.

Go figure.

Still; the DA42 MPP does seem to have found itself yet another niche in terms of making the world a little safer. A Diamond Aircraft Industries’ DA42 MPP, equipped with one laser scanner and two SPECIM Hyperspectral Sensors, has already successfully proven itself in the detection of land mines and explosives -- from an altitude of 500 feet AGL (personally not high enough... but that's us). The test exercise was executed with the help of the Austrian Military (Bundesheer) in Großmittel, Lower Austria.

The results have been very positive, all the explosive materials based on TNT and Nitropenta have been detected. “We are very happy to have soon a unique solution to one of the world’s dirtiest problems. There are still millions of mines and explosives that have to be eliminated in various countries” said Christian Dries, CEO Diamond Aircraft.

The DA42 MPP is a highly adaptable variant of the DA42 TwinStar GA airframe... the modified platform carries various kinds of sensors and performs for surveillance and reconnaissance in Africa, South-America, Europe and even Iraq.

FMI: www.diamondair.com