Originally published at: Diamond Aircraft Revives DA20i Katana for European Market
New production line in Austria brings modern upgrades to the two-seat trainer
So; Europe gets a modern engine;
North America does not;
The Continental is a good engine;
The Rotax 915 would be far better.
FADEC controlled; more efficient; quieter; cleaner, running on unleaded.
Better still; how about a Diesel?
It is 2025; move forward;
Please!
As a trainer, the Continental-powered DA20 is awesome, so much more inspiring to a student pilot than a C172. And yet I’ve only ever encountered one - one! - in flight school use. I’m sure they’re out there and I just haven’t encountered them. As you say, with a modern Rotax engine it would be even better.
As a private, traveling machine the DA20 has two issues - fairly severe ones. One is that it has no baggage space, just a parcel shelf. The other is that it’s VFR only, and I believe that would be truly cost-prohibitive to change because - at the very least - lightning strike protection is required for IFR certification and the DA20 has a composite skin with no metal mesh in it.
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