Diamond Owners Gather In Ontario For Second Annual Event
Despite the last minute
cancellation of the airshow that was supposed to be a sister event
for this year's DiamondFest Owner's meeting in London, Ontario;
DiamondFest 2005 is off to an impressive start.
With advance registrations already well ahead of last year's
event, it's obvious that Diamond flyers are a dedicated flock. The
second time around for this event is showing great promise as a
cooperative venture between Diamond Aircraft and the Diamond
Aircraft Pilot's and Owner's Organization (under the dynamic and
exuberant leadership of Lance and MaryAnn Dietz).
Starting Thursday, June 23rd and proceeding through Saturday
(the 25th), this year's event includes a number of owner
assistance/education seminars, factory tours, demo flights and
instructional programs, as well as an impressive array of door
prizes, a number of quite pleasant social functions and a special
opportunity to see and meet the Canadian Snowbirds.
Other outdoor events include flight demonstrations of the CF-18
Hornet and a Veteran's Flying Salute featuring some military
aviation favorites. While the main airshow that was originally
scheduled for the same weekend as this event was a casualty of
finances, there remains plenty of exciting action to be seen in the
skies over the London Airport.... especially Saturday.
Flying technologically advanced aircraft like the G1000 equipped
DA40 and (soon) the DA42 and upcoming D-Jet make tech
seminars a big deal at this event. In addition to official
briefings on various pieces of equipment and
technologies, there are several presentations scheduled with
Diamond's North American boss, Peter Maurer (one of the best in the
business) on the company, DA42 and D-Jet. Product seminars from
Garmin, Hartzell, Cleveland, Honeywell, Jeppesen, Lycoming,
Continental, Tanis, L3, and others expect to be well-attended
events along with topical briefings from ANN Sponsor
AirFleet Capital, Advocate Tax
Consulting, ANN Sponsor Avemco Insurance, and XU
Aviation (whose presentation, last year, on composite repair was a
"Can't Miss").
The first day started busily with Garmin's Bob Cusick
(above) answering questions from people who are starting to learn
the nitty-gritty of the G1000 and are DYING to play "stump the
tech-rep," and when we looked in, a few times, Bob was holding his
own fairly well. It helps that there are a number of demo systems
on display -- for current customers to check out solutions and
techniques, while erstwhile purchasers find them an
opportunity to get familiarized.
An early afternoon briefing from Peter Maurer (the first of
several), brought the crowd up to date on Diamond, as a company.
Maurer reported that Diamond DA20-C1 production was scheduled to be
increased (they're obviously having no problem moving that product,
based on the most recent GAMA report), while he also promised a
future resumption of motorglider production after the birds receive
an 'update.' He noted that there are now over 600 DA40s in owner's
hands, while the addition of the Garmin G1000 is proving to be a
"good long-term choice." Unfortunately, Peter noted that Diamond
has no six-seater plans for the moment, but that they were, indeed,
considering a novel aerodynamic retrofit kit (for flight training
operations) that will allow the fixed gear DA40 to serve as
something of a complex trainer via a series of mods that will
simulate the effect of extending and retracting a retractable
gear... including the possibility of partial gear failures and the
like -- something you just can't do with real RG birds. Hmmm...
In response to a number of other questions, Peter (above) noted
that there was no effort, as yet, to increase the allowable Gross
Weight for the DA40 (explaining that they do have a pretty full
plate at the moment), and that Diamond Aircraft is expected to stay
a privately owned company, with no ambitions of "going public." He
also allowed that Diamond had looked at air conditioning
options for the DA40, but that its 180HP powerplant made such a
power-hungry option problematic. Maurer did note that Diamond's
growth has been steady and quite aggressive... and that with both
the DA42 about to hit the market in serious numbers and the novel
single-engine D-Jet on the horizon, that he expects Diamond to grow
to become a 200-300 million dollar company employing over 1000
people -- and within five years. We don't doubt that for a
second...
Next... more details from the tech seminars and Maurer's eagerly
awaited briefing on the state of the DA42 light-twin program...