172 or Diamond?

[lazy]

Start on the diamond, by the end you will have flown them both more than enough to be comfortable.
nuff said

[RatherBeFlying]

If the $/hr is about the same, then a better climb rate will get you more circuits/hr, i.e. more learning/$.

Flaps on the C-172 make it almost too easy.

In a slick ship like the C-1, if you don't have barndoor flaps or spoilers like the gliders, you will be doing lots of extra circuits going around until you sort out the airspeed control.

[Dominic220]

Safety wise - C1. I'd much rather be in a Composite aircraft if/when I have to put her down than a metal one.

Why is that, Dom? Does composite absorb more energy or something?

-istp

Composite aircrafts have less chance to break apart than the metal ones do, and from what I've been told, yes, the do absorb more energy...

>Sorry, been busy<

[Jeromeo]

One of the instructors at my school said that one of the diamond models can not be flown in the rain.... Due to the construction or material of the propeller??? That's what I heard. So if it's true then what happens if you accidentally hit some rain.......... 172's are fine to fly through rain.. My 2 bits.

[Lurch]

Thats a new one, he must have stock in Cessna.

Then again I do remember reading something about their props being made of cardboard, part of the walkaround is looking for termites.

The props aren't made of metal like the 172 (I can't remember what exactly) but the only concern I've seen with them is slight chips can cause the prop to break. Had an instructor whos prop desinagrated when he brought it upto 2550 on final.

[Miss Mae]

One of the instructors at my school said that one of the diamond models can not be flown in the rain.... Due to the construction or material of the propeller??? That's what I heard. So if it's true then what happens if you accidentally hit some rain.......... 172's are fine to fly through rain.. My 2 bits.

The C1's props are wood with either a glass or composite wrap. I've flown them in rain many times but not at max RPM (2800 rpm), you need to power back to the 2100-2300 rpm range.

If the rain is fairly light it will cause cosmetic damage (peels the paint at the tips) if you fly through heavy rain at high rpm for a whole flight you can have damage into the wood.

[Hedley]

if you fly through heavy rain at high rpm for a whole flight you can have damage into the wood.

Is that an MT prop? I used to think the same thing (avoid rain w/MT) but then Gerd at MT jumped on my ass and crawled all the way up it ...

Gerd EMPHATICALLY stated that you can fly an MT prop in the rain - it is protected by the titanium leading edge erosion strip. You may lose a little paint off the MT, but you can lose paint off an aluminum prop, too.

Gerd said it rained all the time in Germany, and the MT props flew all year 'round in all wx there.

The MT props are actually laminated spruce, wrapped in fiberglas. They appear very delicate (and are - stay away from gravel if you can) but they are very light, quite reliable and very inexpensive.

[navguy]

Hey Glory when I went to Moncton they let us choose what we wanted to fly and as soon as we finished our private we could get checked out and switch back and forth between the diamond and cessna. The big thing they care about is not switching until you're done your private as that would take more time. I did my ppl on one a/c and my cpl on the other. I must say my preference is definitely the Diamond but both are fun. If you are figuring about 175 hours out of the 200 commercial hours in a single engine and you split them up between the 2 the cost isn't that much more. I guess what I'm saying is do your PPL in whatever you want because after your PPL and night rating I guarantee after 20 or 30 hours cross country you will jump at the chance to fly something thats diifferent, of all the peolple I went to school with I don't think there was 1 person who didn'y fly both.

[Miss Mae]

if you fly through heavy rain at high rpm for a whole flight you can have damage into the wood.

Is that an MT prop?.

Most C1's use a Sensenich Props. The early model DA40's used the MT prop. The newer DA40's use a 2 bladed Hartzell.

[l_reason]

I was working in the UK for a couple months flying 172M that was a mix of everything.. FADAC controlled Thielert turbo diesel (Mercedes) with a MT computer controlled 3 blade prop. I had it in some heavy rain a few times both in climb 2300 rpm and cruise 2100rpm we never noticed any problems with blade damage. The leading edges seemed to be quite a bit harder then the metal props I‘m used to.

A side note. It was fun to fly behind such a smooth engine other then the fact that it had a hard time staying running when the fuel was below ¼ tanks. I have never flown a plane that was that easy to operate. A 172 is a no brainier to fly coupled with one “stick” to operate the engine. Three position throttle; fast, slow and in the middle.

I’m with the other folks fly the cheapest plane you can!

[BankAngle1987]

I flew DA-20s for a few years back home and I found from the time I had on it that it was a fantastic aircraft as far as visibility goes, since you have that great bubble canopy. However, once we got into some airwork situations, such as power on stalls or spins, the Katana is a rather squirrely aircraft at times. I'm told with the improper spin recovery movements, the aircraft is essentially unrecoverable, though I don't know the truth to that (thank God). I would say the 172 is a more viable choice because it just feels more stable in its operation. Plus, like the others added, as a new pilot it's a heck of a lot easier to just deal with "power controls altitude" than "Manifold Pressure + RPM controls altitude". It's just less to think about! Once you start to master flying, and the required rules/procedures that apply, then you'll appreciate the efficiency of constant speed aircraft; up untill then it might just feel like a pain in the ass. Kinda like learning the rules of the road on an automatic, then transferring to a standard for the fun stuff!

[BTD]

The Da-20-C1s aren't all that bad in the stalls. I do "falling leaf" stalls all the time, big deal. For a new student thats all that they know and if they are taught properly to control yaw no big deal. In the cessnas you can get away with f*ing up the yaw control. Even in the Eclipses you can still get away with it easily.

Also just as a reminder there are no constant speed props in the Eclipses, only the Katanas.

Having said all that go with what you enjoy more.