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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1252.PDF
FARNBORO INTERNA! neral avial Diamond last year turned its tention to the very light jet market, launching five-seat, single- engined D-Jet Diamond Aircraft Industries is a rising star of light aircraft manufacture - and is determined to claim the top spot from its US rivals KATE SARSFIELD / WIENER NEUSTADT The H36 Dimona motorglider was the first in Diamond's line of light composite aircraft Austria's Diamond Aircraft Industries has risen through the ranks of general aviation manu facturing to become the largest builder of light aircraft in Europe and the third largest in North America. Yet the success of this extraordi nary company is surprisingly understated. Its humble beginnings in 1981 as Hoffm ann Flugzeugbau spawned the H36 Dimona motorglider, the first of a family of light composite aircraft that would eventually raise the bar in quality, performance and price within this traditional market sector. "We always knew there was a market for a range of modern light aircraft," says Diamond Aircraft managing director Michael Feinig, who has been with the company from the start. "The world's huge general aviation fleet had been dominated for too long by the old designs of Cessna and Piper. But as new technologies were developed in manufacturing and avionics, we saw a way to shake up this market and boost its appeal." Diamond's current president and chief executive Christian Dries snapped up the company in 1989 in a management buy out, and set about revamping and expand ing its product line. Four versions of the Rotax 912/914-powered Dimona - now known as the HK36 Super Dimona or Xtreme - are now available and the aircraft has become the biggest-selling motor glider in Europe, with nearly 1,000 aircraft produced to date. The success of the Dimona spawned the DV20 Katana, a two- seat training aircraft based on its stable- mate's platform, with shortened wings, flaps and tricycle landing gear. Diamond's prominence in the European general aviation market was assured, so the company sought to mirror this success in North America. A facility was opened in Canadian province of Ontario in 1992 to develop, certificate and manufacture a revamped DV20, in which about 40 improvements were incorporated, and to help the Austrian airframer become accepted in the vast, neighbouring US mar ket. The DV20 was branded the DA20 Al for the North American market. Diamond's expansion, coupled with the introduction of the DA20, came at a time when training schools and private flyers were looking for newer, safer, more effi cient aircraft. In addition, Diamond had shrewdly produced the only two-seat com posite trainer on the market that incorpo rated the latest technologies and offered low purchase and operating costs. Finding a niche The introduction of the DA20 left tradi tional players reeling, because the two-seat aircraft secured a succession of new con tracts and confirmed Diamond as a serious contender for the light aircraft crown. These included an order from Daytona Beach, Florida-based Embry-Riddle Aero nautical University for 35 two-seat DA20- Cl trainers to use as flight screeners for the US Air Force Academy. The key to Diamond's success, says Feinig, is its ability to spot niche markets and avoid competing head-on with suc cessful manufacturers. "We have made a concerted effort, for example, to avoid the four-seat, high-performance single market occupied by Cirrus Design," he admits. »w.f lightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13-19 JULY 2004 83
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