Diamond DA-40 Diamond Star

Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: Diamond Aircraft. Model: DA-40. Nickname: Diamond Star
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Airplane SE Piston
> FAA Category and Class: Airplane Single Engine (SE) Land
> Engine Description: single piston

Aircraft Experience
> As of: 11/4/2024
> Number of Hours Flown: 117
> Number of Times Flown: 66
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: DA-42 (Twin)

First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 142
> Date First Flown: 11/21/2003
> Location First Flown: New Century Aircenter, Olathe, KS (KIXD)
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Garmin Flight Test, Tom Carr

Recollections: The Diamond DA-40, designed in Austria (by a company that first built motor gliders) and produced in Austria and Ontario, Canada, is an all composite airplane designed for personal transportation and flight training.

My first flight was on an FAA project.  I few with Test Pilot Tom Carr and and FAA Human Factors engineer Jeff Holland on an initial “early look” at the Garmin G1000 avionics system.  This system, in it’s infancy at the time, came to revolutionize the airplane avionics industry.  I later certified the first G1000, installed in a Cessna 182.  

Most of my hours in the DA-40 come from renting them at Galvin Training, at Seattle’s Boeing Field airport.  Galvin is an excellent Fixed Base Operator (FBO) and flight training facility and I’ve enjoyed both staying current (with the FAA) and flying privately to introduce aviation to scores of young people.