At AirVenture Diamond Aircraft made the U.S. unveiling of its fastest, most powerful piston single, the five-place, fixed-gear DA50 SuperStar. Powered by a 350 hp turbocharged Teledyne Continental engine, the Super Star will be around a 200-knot airplane-no specifics on altitude, power settings or fuel flow were given-with an initial range of 900 nm, though Diamond hopes to improve upon that by at least 100 nm as it works on wing and fuel tank enhancements.
The DA50 will immediately make Diamond a serious contender in the high-performance single category, a role the company’s highly regarded but lower-powered DA40 DiamondStar couldn’t fill.
