It's becoming clearer every day that Diamond Aircraft intends
its upcoming, five-place DA50 Super Star single piston aircraft to
go wingtip-to-wingtip against the offerings of a certain company in
Duluth, MN... and to that end, it's likely the plane will also
become the first Diamond piston offering to sport a ballistic
recovery parachute, as well.
It may not be the prettiest piece of hardware ever to
come from Bend, OR... but a Columbia airframe -- complete with
more than 100 sites of deliberately inflicted unrepaired damage, a
host of structural and nonstructural repairs plus as many as 25
intentional manufacturing defects -- was recently subjected to a
punishing fatigue analysis equivalent to 25,000 flight hours at
loads exceeding the Columbia’s Utility Category certification
levels.
During its April 16 meeting the Pickering, Ontario City Council
approved a resolution calling for public hearings for a proposed
airport... while officially maintaining its opposition to one.
Witnesses Report 8-10 Beers Consumed Shortly Before Flight
According to a preliminary NTSB report, the pilot and passenger
of a 1948 Ryan Navion A had consumed eight to 10 beers shortly
before a March 30 crash in North Valley, CA.
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