July 2, 2005, Diamond will be displaying two versions of its exciting new DA42 at next week's EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The DA42-360, powered by a pair of 180hp Lycoming IO-360's will be joining its TAE turbo diesel powered twin at Diamond's static display.

The Lycoming powered Twin arrived at Diamond's London, Ontario facility 31 flight hours after leaving Diamond's Wiener Neustadt factory. The route included stops in Germany, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Goose Bay, Sept Iles, and Ottawa. Total flight time was 31 hours over the 3,975 nm flight with an average economy cruise speed of 160 ktas. Apart from skirting thunderstorms in Europe and facing average 30 kts headwinds, the flight was uneventful and the aircraft performed flawlessly, reported Diamond's Soeren Pedersen, who ferried the aircraft.

The DA42, with its standard Garmin G1000 glass flight deck is an ideal multi engine trainer as well as an exciting alternative to high performance singles, offering comparable costs with increased safety.

"We see the Lycoming powered version being particularly attractive to the North American market, where customers generally favor performance over fuel economy," said Peter Maurer, President of Diamond Aircraft. "The Lycoming version, with 30% more horsepower than the turbodiesel, boasts spectacular runway and climb performance, improved single engine performance and higher cruise speeds. It comes down to a personal choice ­ on one hand the fuel economy, smoothness, quietness and ease of operation of the turbo-diesel verses higher performance and the well demonstrated reliability and established support infrastructure of the Lycoming. With either power plant, the DA42 is an exciting aircraft offering the added safety of power plant redundancy and known ice certification for serious cross country flying."

Diamond has already delivered over 35 Twin Stars in Europe. U.S. delivery starts are anticipated later this year.