Flying Something Different

If you read today's aviation magazines, you cannot articles about "new" piston single aircraft designs, such as Cirrus or Diamond, vs. traditional designs such as Cessna or Piper. Other than sitting in a cockpit of a brand-new, well appointed Cirrus SR-22 (complete with TKS anti-ice, ah, I wish I had one of these at my disposal), I have not had any first-hand experience in these "new" aircraft.

Conveniently, it turns out that a FBO at Boeing Field, Galvin Flying, has a sizable fleet of Diamond DA-20 and DA-40 series aircraft (a couple of the -40's are even equipped with a G1000 cockpit!) They're somewhat expensive to fly (cheaper if you join their Diamond G discount program), but I figure that after my latest gallivanting around the West Coast, I can probably spare a few more bucks to fly a different design airplane. Galvin's price for the DA-40 is actually comparable to what I pay for a Cessna 182 -- and since the DA-40 cruises slightly faster, it might work out to my advantage after all. We'll see...

For now, though, I'm getting checked out in the -40's less expensive cousin - the DA-20. Weather permitting, this will be in a couple of weeks (I wish I could do it sooner, but alas I'm out of town for a business trip next weekend), plus I need to complete an aeronautical knowledge exam, a POH exam, etc. ahead of the checkout appointment. Stay tuned to the blog for a report!