DA40 Diamond Star is a plane that is a bit different
to what I'm used to fly. Oslo Flying Club has 2
of them (LN-NEX and LN-NEZ) which arrived as replacements
after the hangar collapsed in 2002.
DA40 is a 4-seater single engine airplane with
a diesel engine that runs on Jet A1 fuel. The fuselage
is mainly made out of glass- and carbonfiber which
makes the plane a bit more rigid than the tin cans
I'm used to flying, but it doesn't make it any lighter
(approx the same weight as the C172). The plane
has as mentioned 4 seats, but if you put 4 adults
in it, there's not enought room for fuel.
This is the first plane I've flown that has a stick,
something which was a bit odd for the first 10 minutes,
but it didn't take long until it was comfortable
to fly. The main difference from the normal planes
is the engine. It is a rebuilt Mercedes turbo diesel
engine (the one that is in the A-class as far as
I know), which yields 135 horsepower. The engine
is FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control)
which menas that it is a computer controlling the
engine. The mixture is gone and the throttle is
replaced by a "power lever" which sends
electical signals to the computer. The propeller
is variable pitch, but there is no prop control
in the plane. The computer controls the pitch based
on predetermined values.
The thing about the engine being controlled by
a computer also means that losing your electrical
power can be a huge problem. On ordinary planes
the engine runs independent of electrical power
(only needs power to start), but with this engine
you have 30 minutes to find a suitable place to
lande if you loose your electrical power.
The checkout included a 3 hour theory course, followed
by a test of around 100 questions. The practical
part of the checkout was a flight of about an hour.
May 7th I flew the checkout with Harald Orlien (chief
flight instructor). I flew the checkout together
with Morten Eltvik who also went to NEAR. He flew
down to Rygge while I flew it back. The weather
was absolutely fantastic, and I got a little flashback
to Floridas heat and cumulus clouds.
Other than that I still work for the Air Force
at Gardermoen. A week ago I went to Tallinn (Estonia)
on an assignment. We landed late Saturday night
and got the chance to do some speed tourism around
the old city.
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LN-NEX
Take off from Kjeller. The cockpit instruments are
more or less as usual, but pay attention to the digital
engine instruments on the right side.
Harald to the left, Morten in the back and me satisfied
and happy to the right.
Final approach at Rygge. Notice the "winglets"
:)
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