PILOT BRIEFING 26 AWARDS 28 BUDGET BUY 30 SWEEPSTAKES 32 CHART CHALLENGE 34 TEST PILOT 36 NEWS DA50 PROTOTYPES * Five-seat unpressurized, 150-knot Austro dieselengine DA50 Magnum ($700,000) * Five-seat pressurized DA50 Superstar with a Continental 550 engine ($650,000) * DA50 projects were put on hold in 2009. * It continues to be a development project, including the current turboprop. * The DA50 fuselage was used for the DA62 twin that may be certified this year. Diamond DA50 turboprop enters flight testing Airframe development began nine years ago B Y A LTO N K . M A R S H FLIGHT TESTING OF a seven-place Diamond Aircraft DA50-JP7 powered by a turboprop engine built in Ukraine is in progress in Austria. The aircraft was first announced at Germany's Aero Friedrichshafen trade show in 2013. Additional information will be released at that show April 15, 2015. The concept has been tested since 2006 with gasoline and diesel engines. The aircraft completed its first flight in January at Wiener Neustadt, Austria, with Diamond Aircraft CEO Christian Dries and test pilot Ingmar Mayerbuch aboard. Afterward Dries declared the aircraft to fly like "a rocket." The airplane will be manufactured in two versions-"Tundra" and consumer versions. The Tundra will have oversize tires and rugged landing gear for rough terrain. The second version is aimed at the high-performance training market and private owners. The 465-horsepower AI-450S turbine engine is built by Ukrainian company Motor Sich JSC in collaboration with Ivchenko Progress. Diamond officials claim a 20-percent lower fuel burn than similar turbine engines. The aircraft has full 24 | AOPA PILOT March 2015 authority digital engine controls, meaning a lighter pilot workload. The engine start sequence begins with the push of a single button. The aircraft will be built at Diamond Aircraft headquarters in Wiener Neustadt, where another Diamond company-Austro Engine-is located. Austro is involved in certifying and later overhauling the DA50 engine. EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org WEB www.diamondaircraft.com DA50-JP7 was first flown in Austria in January. It is powered by an Ukrainian-buit 465-horsepower turbine engine.http://www.diamondaircraft.com