If sexy sleek looks were to be the primary criterion by which General Aviation aircraft were to be judged in the eyes of onlookers, the Diamond DA62 certainly is a beauty to behold, by any standard.

This craft was first flown in 2012, and now, a decade later, the Diamond DA62 has been further redesigned and refined to make it one of the safest, and most economical general aviation private aircraft on the market today, in 2021.

Like a fit and busty young woman taking off a skimpy bikini at a clothing-optional beach, all eyes are drawn to the smooth feline contours of this very sporty looking plane, which can cruise at over 200 mph, while aloft for six hours straight on a single refill of easily available automotive diesel, during which the fuel burn rate remains under 15 gallons per hour, drawn from an 89-gallon fuel tank. In short, this 7-seater aircraft can cover well over 1,000 miles without stopping to refuel. Interestingly, the twin engines of this bird, are Mercedes automotive engines, coupled to a proprietary gearbox that slows the rpm down for the most efficient propeller operation.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN5KsSm-R5w


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwNCCaTpW7U

If you crave some more historical background, the Wikipedia page on this beauty will get you up to speed on the story thus far.

https://lifestyleaviation.com/diamond-da62-twin-aircraft/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_DA62

Priced at 1.25 million greenbacks and above depending on customized options selected, this little bird costs less than one tenth the amount of money paid by Nigeria's miracle pastors, to acquire their corporate jets made by Gulfstream, Lear and Cessna.

For anyone seeking to explore the flight characteristics of this magnificent flying machine, the latest edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator does offer a very accurate rendition of the flight characteristics and instrumentation of this platform, such that it can be flown in the virtual world, long before any visit to the Diamond Industries aircraft showroom located in Canada.

Among the more remarkable features offered by this aircraft, is fully automated flight envelope protection, analogous to the flight envelope protections offered by the Airbus family of commercial airliners, whereby the plane will actually force the nose down, if the pilot tries to pitch the aircraft up too steeply, thus preventing a stall. Similarly, too steep of a bank angle (roll angle), would also trigger a corrective input to quickly reduce the roll angle in order to preempt an aerodynamic stall that could otherwise lead to a loss of control and a crash, if the pilot is slow to manually correct his errors. Forward-looking weather radar, and infra-red "synthetic vision" for night and bad weather terrain visibility, are standard safety features of this highly engineered aircraft.

All in all this ingenuous aircraft design built from the ground up with safety in mind, is long overdue in the skies above Nigeria. Note that the example of this aircraft shown in the photograph below, is configured as a military surveillance platform, as evidenced by the FLIR camera mounted under the fuselage, and the specialized antenna dome mounted just aft of the passenger compartment.

I've long been a fan of Diamond Aircraft. They make cheap and durable planes.

But if I had money I would rather buy a Super Petrel XL and a Just Aircraft SuperStolXL. The first has long range and can take off on both land and water. Take off roll on land is just 80m.

The second is easily one of the best STOL aircraft ever. Sure it's not fast, but it makes the most sense in countries like Nigerian. I can buy a SuperStolXL and be flying it from my backyard, cos it's built for and stressed for very rough field operations

Both aircraft combined cost less than 200k in USD. You fit dash me the money oga Jakumo?

GabrielYulaw:
I've long been a fan of Diamond Aircraft. They make cheap and durable planes.

But if I had money I would rather buy a Super Petrel XL and a Just Aircraft SuperStolXL. The first has long range and can take off on both land and water. Take off roll on land is just 80m.

The second is easily one of the best STOL aircraft ever. Sure it's not fast, but it makes the most sense in countries like Nigerian. I can buy a SuperStolXL and be flying it from my backyard, cos it's built for and stressed for very rough field operations

Both aircraft combined cost less than 200k in USD. You fit dash me the money oga Jakumo?

Hey Gabriel, its always good to hear from a fellow aircraft enthusiast. I hear ya about those STOL aircraft. With smaller examples capable of taking off from less than 20 feet of runway, and landing on even less distance, a STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft would be ideally suited for use all over rural Nigeria, where virtually any sports field, could become a runway.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPakbghLe38

Speaking of STOL aircraft that can take a few passengers, I have often wondered why airline operators in Nigeria, who evidently do fly a few Twin Otters, haven't expanded their passenger operations into the lucrative market of short-hop flights, using a much larger fleet of Twin Otters, which can land or takeoff virtually anywhere. Watch this Twin Otter take off and land TWICE on the same runway.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCj7NKetkk

Nigeria's road network consists largely of rutted, cratered tarmac that leads to increasingly unbearable multi-hour traffic gridlocks on the highways linking all major cities in the nation's southern states. It is not unusual for vehicular traffic on roads connecting Lagos to the rest of the country, to grind to a halt and strand motorists for 5 to 8 hour ordeals, amid the stench of raw gasoline emanating from leaky petrol tanker trucks that do spontaneously combust now and then, incinerating hundreds of trapped motorists.

Taking Nigeria's southwest as an example, Lagos could be linked to Sango Ota, Eleko Beach, Epe, Ibadan, Shagamu, Oyo, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Akure, Ondo, Okitipupa, and Ore, to name a few towns and cities, using a fleet of Twin Otter planes, and with no infrastructure required on the ground besides periodic mowing of the landing strip. There is a MASSIVE market in Nigeria, for short-hop air travel that enables passengers to avoid the notorious traffic gridlocks, not to mention the spate of armed robbery and kidnapping attacks that are becoming regular occurrences on Nigeria's dilapidated road network.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxaCpJnKXiM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9dXhs962yw

Most travelers within Nigeria would gladly pay twice the cost of a road journey, in order to arrive at their destinations sooner by short-hop air link.

Jakumo:


Hey Gabriel, its always good to hear from a fellow aircraft enthusiast. I hear ya about those STOL aircraft. With smaller examples capable of taking off from less than 20 feet of runway, and landing on even less distance, a STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft would be ideally suited for use all over rural Nigeria, where virtually any sports field, could become a runway.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPakbghLe38

Speaking of STOL aircraft that can take a few passengers, I have often wondered why airline operators in Nigeria, who evidently do fly a few Twin Otters, haven't expanded their passenger operations into the lucrative market of short-hop flights, using a much larger fleet of Twin Otters, which can land or takeoff virtually anywhere. Watch this Twin Otter take off and land TWICE on the same runway.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCj7NKetkk

Nigeria's road network consists largely of rutted, cratered tarmac that leads to increasingly unbearable multi-hour traffic gridlocks on the highways linking all major cities in the nation's southern states. It is not unusual for vehicular traffic on roads connecting Lagos to the rest of the country, to grind to a halt and strand motorists for 5 to 8 hour ordeals, amid the stench of raw gasoline emanating from leaky petrol tanker trucks that do spontaneously combust now and then, incinerating hundreds of trapped motorists.

Taking Nigeria's southwest as an example, Lagos could be linked to Sango Ota, Eleko Beach, Epe, Ibadan, Shagamu, Oyo, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Akure, Ondo, Okitipupa, and Ore, to name a few towns and cities, using a fleet of Twin Otter planes, and with no infrastructure required on the ground besides periodic mowing of the landing strip. There is a MASSIVE market in Nigeria, for short-hop air travel that enables passengers to avoid the notorious traffic gridlocks, not to mention the spate of armed robbery and kidnapping attacks that are becoming reguolar occurrences on Nigeria's dilapidated road network.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxaCpJnKXiM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9dXhs962yw

Most travelers within Nigeria would gladly pay twice the cost of a road journey, in order to arrive at their destinations sooner by short-hop air link.

Hi oga Jakumo! I do watch STOL video compilations, but I don't take them all that seriously because I think aircraft that participate are either specially and impractically lightened or one-off productions that cannot be bought and sold. That said, I sure have seen these aircraft do pretty much unbelievable things.

As for the market you identified, yes it makes a lot of sense and would be much cheaper than the helicopters the firms use at present, while requiring pretty much the same infrastructure. Why no one is doing it is what I don't know.