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.

FMI: www.diamondaircraft.com