KATE SARSFIELD / LONDON
Diamond Aircraft has received European instrument flight rules certification for its DA40TDI light single-engined aircraft as it prepares to break ground on a 10,900m2 (120,000ft2) composites facility at its base in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
Diamond clinched European Joint Aviation Authorities approval for the visual flight rules version last November - the first-ever approval of a diesel engine on a newly certificated aircraft.
The €210,000 ($240,000) DA40TDI, based on the Lycoming IO-360-powered DA40-180 Diamond Star, has a Thielert Aircraft Engines (TAE) 135hp (100kW) Centurion 1.7 jet-fuel engine.
Diamond managing director Christian Dries says orders for the DA40TDI have passed 100, mostly from European customers, including 35 from the Lufthansa flying school.
Diamond's diesel-fuelled DA42 Twin Star, a twin-engined derivative of the DA40TDI, is scheduled for certification later this year. More than 170 orders have been chalked up for the four-seat aircraft.
"Our Austria base will have the capacity to build up to 400 aircraft a year," says Dries.
The new composites factory will house production of aircraft wings and fuselages and is scheduled for completion in November.
Source: Flight International
