Great Lakes Diamond Aircraft Sales is the Diamond Regional Distribution Center for the Great Lakes region, serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. We are the national distributor for the Diamond Xtreme Motor-Glider. Through our network of affiliated new aircraft dealers, Great Lakes Diamond Aircraft Sales is your exclusive source for new Diamond aircraft in the Great Lakes Region.
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Great Lakes Diamond now has downloadable Motor Glider Brochures and Fact Sheets in Standard Units not metric.
Please visit our Motorglider Page where you will find these documents.
In the February issue of AOPA Pilot, Thomas Horne reports and posts a video on his test flight of the DA42:
I was fortunate enough to fly a DA42 NG on a 250-nm cross-country, from the Diamond factory in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, to Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany. Along the way, maximum continuous power true airspeeds worked out to be 176 knots at 92-percent power, burning 8.2 gph per engine. This was at 8,000 feet and at plus 2 degrees C; I was told that we’d have gone seven or eight knots faster at 10,000 or 12,000 feet. Except for navigating the hodgepodge of controlled airspace along the way, flying the NG was a breeze. Just set the power and the FADECs do the rest. Like all DA42s, the NGs come with Garmin G1000 avionics suites, but what’s new is the bezel-mounted, integrated GFC 700 autopilot; earlier DA42s came with Honeywell Bendix/King KAP 140 autopilots. The GFC 700 lets you automate your flying to your heart’s content. The FLC (flight level change) function, for example, even lets you climb or descend at selected speeds or rates. Garmin’s synthetic vision technology (SVT) will soon become an option.
And the video is posted on our Media Page
Have been moved to the new Media page. Also available there are high resolution photos of Diamond aircraft.
GLDAS now has an HK36 demonstrator available in Northern Illinois.
Please contact Dan via email or (800) 962-9437 x0
We were thrilled to have the new HK36 MotorGlider in stock. A shipping container arrived in Illinois last month with two aircraft: a turbo and a normally-aspirated model. Both are now sold. The next two aircraft are due in the USA by early July.
The HK36 has been out of production for some time as Diamond made improvements to the production facility. These are the first and only new HK36 aircraft in the USA.
This aircraft is all about economical fun. You can self-launch, climb at 1000 fpm, motor along at nearly 120 knots, sipping 4 gallons per hour, and you can shut the engine down to enjoy soaring with the 27:1 glide ratio.
Unlike traditional gliders, the HK36 relieves the pilot of the wait for a tow at the glider port, and with its heater, it can be flown all winter. The motor means powered operations are reasonable at congested urban airfields, and the one-man folding wing kit means storage is a breeze. And, of course, an engine means a heater for cold-weather operation that is impossible for traditional gliders.
For flight schools as well as individuals, it is the best of the powered and glider world: for powered flight, it is operationally less restricted than even a Light Sport, but the pilot gets the added benefits of soaring. Flight schools find that this aircraft provides a safe, realistic engine-out trainer.
GLDAS is excited to offer a first-of-its-kind promotion for new Diamond aircraft placed on leaseback with a flight school in our region: Leaseback Payback.
Here's the dilemma: Bonus depreciation and expensing expire at the end of this year. These programs offer substantial tax savings for leaseback aircraft. However, winter can be a challenging time to bring an aircraft onto a flight line for rental. GLDAS can help you realize your dream of aircraft ownership with our Leaseback Payback:
For a limited time, take delivery of any in-stock aircraft, and place that aircraft on leaseback at the flight school of your choice, and GLDAS will "top off" your first six months of leaseback income up to:
| DA20 Eclipse | $1150 per month |
| DA40 - CS | $2000 per month |
| DA40 - XLS | $2350 per month |
| DA42 - TDI | $3000 per month |
Diamond flew the new DA42 Twinstar with the Lycoming power plants to AOPA Expo in San Jose, CA. The aircraft looks great - both the engine nacelles and the new control quadrant show great fit and finish.
As for performance, the numbers speak for themselves:
Click here for the new performance statistics.
Aircraft
Maximum Cruise
Rate of Climb (SL)
DA42-NG
185 KTAS
1150 fpm
DA42-L360
180+ KTAS
2000 fpm
GLDAS is now accepting orders for the DA42 - L360, and deliveries are scheduled to begin by the middle of the first quarter, 2009.
Contact us for ordering and pricing information, and stay tuned for a more verbose DA42 update, which will be sent by early December to our DA42 customers. If you wish to be added to our DA42 mailing list, please indicate so on the contact us page of this website.
Diamond Aircraft and Eastern Aviation Insurance have announced the launch of the Diamond Aviation Insurance Program for Diamond Flight Centers and individual Diamond Aircraft owners. The program, underwritten exclusively by AXA Insurance through Britt / Paulk Aviation Underwriters, offers lower, preferential insurance rates – and some terms not available in the general market – to make owning and operating a Diamond airplane even more attractive.
For Diamond Flight Centers, the program leverages the high quality of these audited, selected flight schools to improve upon already-attractive rates available for all Diamond Aircraft. The program also offers terms and a scope of coverage not typically available to schools elsewhere: