Diamondstar DA20

The DA20 is a fun plane to fly. You'll probably touch the tail to the ground a few times, but it looks like there's a skid plate for that. I remember returning from a grass strip landing and finding blades of grass wedged under the plate.
 
N99999 said:
The DA20 is a fun plane to fly. You'll probably touch the tail to the ground a few times,
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only if you've only flown Cessna and never flown other airplanes that don't land so nose high. Both Cirrus and Tigers land even more nose low than the Diamond series.

Of course, how did we get a thread that talks about a non-existent DA-20 Diamond Star anyway? Somebody have an Eclipse/Star accident and end up with a 6-seat twin?
 
MidlifeFlyer said:
Of course, how did we get a thread that talks about a non-existent DA-20 Diamond Star anyway? Somebody have an Eclipse/Star accident and end up with a 6-seat twin?
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Only way that works is if its like a DA-52 Twin SuperStar (Have to love the marketing guys on the DA-50 SuperStar).
 
Gunnar971 said:
I will be transitioning to this aircraft in the next week and would like to get some more information about it. Does, or has, anyone ever taught in this plane? I have already downloaded and read the POH off the Diamondstar website. I guess Im looking for 1. Even more technical info on it in terms of systems 2. Some kind of checklist would be nice to start learning flows and stuff 3. Things to watch out for when you are training someone in it (example: In a 172 you have to be very careful not to over rotate and hit the tail on a softfield T/O). I think Riddle used to, or still does, train in the DA20/DA40. If any Grads or current student have any good training materials that they are willing to share, I would reappy appreciate it! Thanks all
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Most importantly for me, always make sure your students do a proper prelight on the airplane, especially the wooden props. Those props have a tendency to become loose and violently shake the airplane during flight and in some cases come off the airplane completely. I believe those props have a 50 hour AD in some. Oh yeah, make sure you learn the proper start procedure. They're pretty easy to flood.
 
jspeed87 said:
Coming from a Cessna, I got really frustrated taxiing the DA20! :mad: Rudders wont kick in until you rev it up. Otherwise, I love the plane. The Stick makes me feel like I'm a combat Pilot.
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Erm....try the rudder, and once you've gotten full rudder if that's not working, then use differential braking.

Took about 5 mins of taxi time for most my students to figure it out.
 
N99999 said:
You'll probably touch the tail to the ground a few times, but it looks like there's a skid plate for that.
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Eh...its possible, but I certainly wouldn't make it sound like its OK to smack the tail around and not be worried about it.

I have almost 400 hours instructing in the airplane and it only happened to me once. Just learn to fly it correctly and its no big deal.
 
One word of advice. Don't turn the thing on a dime. Yes I know it can do it, but the tires end up flat all the time. Has happened to every diamond my school has. Bad design with the tube in the tire causes the valve stem to shear off.
 
Maurus said:
One word of advice. Don't turn the thing on a dime. Yes I know it can do it, but the tires end up flat all the time. Has happened to every diamond my school has. Bad design with the tube in the tire causes the valve stem to shear off.
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Yep...I've had 3 flat tires and all of them were in the DA-20 (one of each).

One right main while taxiing, one left main on landing (kept it on the runway. And one nosewheel while landing. Took it from the student and treated it like a soft field landing/taxi made it back to the ramp.

That and a brake failure, which was fun. Taxiied back to the ramp at BWI. Had to do a zoolander to get into the ramp. Then when I got near all the big fancy bizjets I decided it best to shut down and pull it into its parking spot.
 
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