Diamond Aircraft
| Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1981 |
| Seat |
Wiener Neustadt Austria
|
| management | Frank Zhang |
| Number of employees | 1200 |
| Website | www.diamond-air.at |
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Diamond Aircraft is an Austrian aircraft manufacturer with production facilities in Austria, Canada and China. The company headquarters is in the Lower Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt .
Diamond Aircraft also operates the Wiener Neustadt / Ost airfield ( ICAO code : LOAN).
history
The company was founded in 1981 by Wolf Hoffmann as Hoffmann Flugzeugbau in Friesach , Carinthia . It first produced the H36 Dimona touring motor glider .
In 1987 the company moved to Wiener Neustadt and the motor glider was further developed into the HK36 "Super Dimona". The K stands for co-designer Dieter Köhler.
After several changes in ownership, the company had been owned by the native German Christian Dries since 1991, who was also the company's managing director until November 2010. Building on the motor glider , ever larger powered aircraft were built: first the two-seater DA20 Katana, then the four-seat DA40, then the twin-engine DA42, and currently (2008) a single-engine small jet is in development. By 2005, a total of more than 3,500 aircraft had been manufactured.
More than 1200 employees are employed worldwide, 580 of them in the production plant in Wiener Neustadt in Austria, 350 in London in the province of Ontario in Canada , others in the agencies / maintenance yards in Egelsbach ( Germany ), at Gamston Airport in England and since 2006 in the Province of Shandong in the people's Republic of China . This makes it the third largest company in the world that specializes in the production of single-engine light aircraft.
The company was in distress due to the financial crisis that started in 2007 . According to the General Aviation Manufacturer Association, the overall market shrank by 13 percent in 2008. Then in 2009 the market collapsed by a massive 57.5 percent. Diamond Aircraft produced 471 aircraft in 2007. In 2008 only 308 and in 2009 only 163 aircraft could be delivered. At the beginning of 2009, 180 jobs (140 at Diamond, 40 at Austro Engine ) were on shaky ground.
In 2010, only 120 machines were delivered again from Wiener Neustadt. These have already been equipped with the engines from the Austro Engine belonging to Diamond . A large part of the aircraft are special versions that are used for border surveillance or for environmental protection for observation.
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In the course of a delayed loan by the Canadian government, Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. temporarily released 213 of the 380 employees at the Canadian site in London, Ontario in March 2011. In May 2011, the newly elected Canadian government finally refused the loan of 35 million Canadian dollars required for the production of the new D-JET . As a result, the Medrar Financial Group from Dubai in the United Emirates took over the majority of the North American subsidiary Diamond Group.
In 2011 Diamond was able to increase the number of pieces from 139 in 2010 to 185.
At the end of 2017, the company was taken over by the Chinese company Wanfeng Aviation Industry . Dries will remain in an advisory capacity until further notice.
Model range
In production (2016)
- Diamond HK36 "Super Dimona" as a high-performance motor glider
- Diamond DA20 / DV20 as a two-seat small aircraft
- Diamond DA40 "Diamond Star" as a four-seat small aircraft
- Diamond DA42 “Twin Star” as a twin-engine aircraft with four seats.
- Diamond DA62 (formerly named DA52), a twin-engine variant of the DA50 with up to seven seats, had its maiden flight on April 3, 2012.
In development (2016)
- Diamond DA50 "Super Star" as a five-seat small aircraft. Currently being developed with a turboprop. (First flight April 4th 2007)
- D-JET , a single-engine business jet (first flight April 18, 2006) that was set to be by far the cheapest jet available, with a target sales price of around one million dollars. However, further development was interrupted in 2011 and has not been resumed since.
- FSA (Future Small Aircraft), a light aircraft
- Diamond DART 450 (a two-seat training aircraft with a PTL engine, first flight on May 17, 2016)
Special features
Fiber-reinforced plastic
The special thing about the aircraft from Diamond Aircraft is the use of fiber-reinforced plastic to build the structure. Compared to classic aircraft building materials (wood, metal), this material has the advantages of better surface quality and higher strength combined with low weight.
Diesel engines
A special feature of the aircraft from Diamond Aircraft is the availability of diesel engines instead of conventional aircraft engines . Due to the low consumption of the cheaper diesel or jet A1 fuel, these engines enable lower operating costs for aircraft equipped with them.
The original supplier of diesel engines was Thielert AG, which has since filed for bankruptcy.
Diamond is now developing its own diesel engines under the name Austro Engine , which will be used in the future instead of Thielert diesels. The first AE 300 engine (a four-cylinder reciprocating piston engine ) was approved by EASA on January 28, 2009 .
innovation
Record flight
In order to demonstrate the economic efficiency of their aircraft, the company Diamond had a twin-engine DA42 Twin Star complete a non-stop transatlantic flight on August 16, 2004. This flight was the world's first non-stop transatlantic flight of a diesel-powered aircraft in general aviation . The total distance from St. John's , Newfoundland to Porto in Portugal was 1900 NM (3518 km). The pilot Gérard Guillaumaud flew with an engine power of 42% and achieved an average speed over ground of 152 kn (281.5 km / h); the entire flight lasted 12 hours and 30 minutes, using 272 liters of diesel fuel; this corresponds to 7.7 liters per 100 km.
A Dimona as the first aircraft with a fuel cell as a power source
On March 3, 2008, Boeing operated a small aircraft for the first time - a Dimona from Diamond Aircraft - with a hybrid drive, an electric motor with a lithium-ion battery and a fuel cell . After the ascent with both energy sources to an altitude of 1000 meters, the battery was disconnected and the pilot flew the first 20 minutes of the flight history with fuel cells. The drive was developed by BR&TE Boeing Research and Technology Europe in Madrid with European industrial partners.
The Diamond Group
The aircraft manufacturer Diamond Aircraft is now part of a group that includes the following companies:
- Diamond Aircraft Austria (production site)
- Diamond Aircraft Germany
- Diamond Aircraft Canada (production site)
- Diamond Aircraft UK
- Diamond Aircraft China (production site)
- Diamond Airborne Sensing
- Diamond simulation
- Diamond Informatics
- Austro engine
Diamond Airborne Sensing
A subsidiary of Diamond Aircraft deals with the use of Diamond aircraft for surveillance, observation or laser scanning purposes . Diamond Airborne Sensing, like the parent company, is based at Wiener Neustadt Airport.
Diamond Airborne Sensing, for example, equips the Diamond DA42 with cameras. Images can be transmitted to the appropriate ground stations via satellites. This system is used, for example, to monitor forest fires and can make the use of fire-fighting aircraft more effective. The DA42 MPP can achieve flight times of up to 13 hours without refueling.
During the fires in Ukraine, which took place at the same time as the forest fires in Russia in 2010, Diamond deployed two aircraft to assist with aerial observation and investigation. A machine had already been on a similar mission to investigate the ash cloud after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in April 2010.
Diamond simulation
Another subsidiary, which is dedicated to the construction of flight training equipment ( flight simulation ), is located in Egelsbach. The flight training devices are certified according to FNPT II (JAR-STD 3A) and FTD Level 5 (AC 120-45A and CCAR Part 60) and are used in flight schools around the world.
The company has set itself the goal of replicating its own aircraft types on a 1: 1 scale so that the student pilots do not notice any difference in operation between the flight trainer and the real aircraft. The original cockpits from Wiener Neustadt with absolutely identical equipment are used for this. The trainee pilot receives realistic 3D impressions on the 200 ° visual system, which is attached to the "Tropos 1000" system from the Canadian manufacturer CAE .
The company, founded in 2004 as a joint venture , was renamed Diamond Simulation GmbH & Co. KG in 2006 .
Austro engine
Austro Engine (now Diamond Engines, formerly Midwest Engines) is an engine manufacturer that is involved in the development and production of reciprocating piston engines for operation with Jet A-1 or diesel as a fuel as well as rotary engines . Austro Engine manufactures rotary motors for retractable engines and to drive the Schiebel Camcopter S-100 . A twin-disc rotary engine for the Katana DA20 is also being tested.
Others
In 2011, Liliana Schmidt (Head of Sales CES States) and Christian Dries from Diamond Aircraft were awarded a medal by the Ukrainian government for their support in border surveillance.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b ftd.de: Diamond Aircraft brings new head of EADS ( Memento from November 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), from November 28, 2010
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from November 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ GAMA figures: Shipment Database ( memento of the original from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ State of Lower Austria helps Diamond Aircraft
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft takes off in Wiener Neustadt ( memento from February 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in the Wirtschaftswoche from February 11, 2011, accessed on March 29, 2011
- ↑ http://www.canada.com/Diamond+Aircraft+lays+employees/4517171/story.html?id=4517171
- ↑ http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/05/17/18155086.html
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft Canada with new investor dated November 17, 2011, accessed March 12, 2012
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft sales up 33% in 2011 ( memento from February 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on the company website from February 24, 2012, accessed on March 12, 2012
- ↑ The Chinese take over Diamond Aircraft on ORF from December 24, 2017, accessed on December 24, 2017
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft announces name change for DA52 ( memento June 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed June 5, 2014.
- ↑ Successful maiden flight of the Diamond DA52 in Wiener Neustadt , accessed on April 5, 2012.
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft :: Diamond DA50 Super Star completes a successful maiden flight ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ First flight of the Diamond Aircraft DART-450. In: austrianwings.info. May 20, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2016 .
- ↑ Reuters report: Thielert insolvent
- ↑ Aerokurier report ( Memento from September 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Diamond DA42 - like fly hightec. flyate.de, accessed on February 24, 2013 .
- ↑ Diamond DA42. (No longer available online.) Aviatormag.com.au, archived from the original on April 20, 2013 ; Retrieved February 24, 2013 .
- ↑ Boeing: Boeing Successfully Flies Fuel Cell-Powered Airplane
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft: Project "Firefighting in Ukraine" ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Diamond Sensing press release dated August 2010, accessed March 29, 2011
- ↑ Diamond flies into the ash cloud ( memento from March 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) from April 19, 2010, accessed on March 29, 2011
- ↑ Diamond Aircraft awarded by Ukraine in Austrian Wings on March 4, 2011, accessed on March 29, 2011
