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Diamond Aircraft’s new aerobatic trainer makes its debut

Diamond Aircraft’s latest trainer makes its premiere at the 2023 Paris Airshow only a week after its maiden flight in June. The DART-750 tandem seat aerobatic trainer is powered by a Pratt and Whitney PT6A-25C turboprop engine and equipped with next generation avionic technology. 

Covering all basic flight manoeuvres, performance and handling checks, the first test flight lasted 30 minutes. According to the Austrian aircraft manufacturer, the DART-750 exceeded all of the initial flight test parameters and expectations.

“This flight marks another major milestone in the DART-750 programme and demonstrates the entire team’s hard and excellent work in getting it achieved. The positive results make us confident in moving forward with the program as intended,” said Robert Kremnitzer, head of design organization, at Diamond Aircraft.

The composite trainer is capable of 265kts, and has 750 shaft horsepower (SHP). It has 3.5 hours endurance, and a maximum load factor of +6/-4G.

The DART-750 will be civil certified and equipped with ‘state-of-the-art’ Garmin G3000 avionics. The Garmin G3000 dual glass cockpit features touchscreen control, 14.1-inch high-resolution displays. The trainer also has Synthetic Vision Technology.

Diamond Aircraft will offer a complete DART Basic Training Solution, covering all phases of basic training. This includes GBTS (Ground Based Training Systems) and BTA (Basic Trainer Aircraft). The basic training solution includes a DART-750 aircraft, proprietary DART FNPT II Simulator, and the DART CBT (Computer Based Training) suite.

The Dart-750 simulator will increase student capacity and training efficiency, regardless of the weather or availability of the aircraft. The simulator replicates a real aircraft including high fidelity flight model software representative for the DART-750.

The instructor operating station (IOS) brings the flight instructor inside the cabin while having full control over the training session. The comprehensive IOS software provides flight instructors with the same capabilities as found in a full flight simulator for intuitive operations.

Over the past 10 years the PT6A programme has seen about 120 upgrades. The turboprop is recognised for its dependability and performance in the most challenging conditions. The powerplant has been in general aviation service over 60 years.

More than 52,000 PT6A family of engines have been produced spanning the lifetime of the programme. During this time the PT6A fleet has accumulated more than 440 million flight hours (FH). About 50% of all these engines remain in active service in 2023.

Images accredited to Diamond Aircraft media library

Author: FTN Editor

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