The world of training aircraft has all but reinvented itself since Diamond introduced the DA20 to the North American market nearly 20 years ago. When the Katana appeared, Diamond reasoned that the fleet of ancient Cessna 150s and 152s was growing weary and operators would lust for replacements. What it didn't anticipate was a couple of significant downturns, a glut of overproduction and the rise of the light sport aircraft market. The latter hasn't exactly set towering sales records, but it doesn't take many missed sales to turn a modest program into a struggling one.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/ownership/diamond-da20-review