Diamond DA40 for Sale

When Diamond bought Hoffmann, it paid attention to the company’s core expertise: building clean, strong glass structures. This is definitely reflected in the DA40’s construction, which was built along the same lines as the two-seat Katana/Evolution/Eclipse series.

The airplane fuselage is constructed of wet layup material in two halves that are bonded together longitudinally, with the vertical stab as part of the assembly. The T-tail is attached separately, as are the wings which, unlike the Cirrus aircraft, are two separate pieces joined at the fuselage center section. The wings themselves are laid up top and bottom in vacuum molds, then bonded together after the internals are installed.

The rear cabin, middle, isn’t cavernous by any means, but on par with other four-placers in its class. We suggest reading the used composite airplane article in the April 2020 Aviation Consumer before buying. Repairs to composite models (including the paperwork chase) are quite different than metal ones, and many earlier DA40s have undergone major repairs.

The spar is a massive twin carbon-fiber spar layup between which the fuel is stored in removable aluminum cells. The fact that fuel is exceptionally well protected may explain why Diamond aircraft have shown no tendency toward post-crash fires.

There’s useful storage space behind the rear seats. The cabin and cockpit is best thought of as a bathtub arrangement with a wraparound canopy in the front and a hinged rear hatch for the back-seat occupants. The canopy hinges at the front, rather than the rear, as on the DA20. The rear hatch is on the airplane’s left side and is equipped with a pin release for emergency egress. As with most of the modern composite aircraft, the DA40 has spring steel gear and a castering nosewheel, with steering via differential braking. The gear attach point loads are carried into the center section through attachments on the spar.

Unique among the big three composite lines—Cirrus, Columbia/Cessna (the TTx is gone, of course) and Diamond—the DA40 has center sticks with push-pull rods for elevator and ailerons and cables for the rudder. Rather than sliding seats, the DA40 has pedals that can be repositioned to adjust legroom. Trim is both electric and manual—there’s a trim rocker on the sticks and a center console wheel—and is activated by cables to an anti-servo tab on the horizontal stab.

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