How Diamond Builds Composite Aircraft
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Diamond Aircraft builds composite airplanes in two factories, one in Austria and one in London, Ontario. In this long-form video, AVweb's Paul Bertorelli reports on how the Ontario plant turns out the DA40 single--both the Lycoming and Austro diesel versions--and the impressive DA62 twin.
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Wow, Paul, thank you for that video. Best factory tour I have ever taken. Kudos to all the Diamond reps who shared their expertise. My positive impression of Diamond went through the roof after watching that video. My favorite was that guy Jeff Smallwood. He made me feel confident to put my entire family aboard one of “his” planes. Actually, I’d still want a chute in my next plane, but Diamond sure impressed me with their “process” pronounced in their Canadian way.
Couldn't have said it better.
a chute is totally useless and meaningless,,, its only meant to sucker ppl into buying them,,,a descent rate under a chute is twice the rate of a diamond under full stall,,, plus it lands flat as a pancake causing more injuries than having a 40-50 kt forward component landing under stall without a chute
M - You’re either ignorant, misinformed or deliberately misinforming others. Either way your profile pic checks out.
@@quinncide are you a pilot ? ,, prove me wrong or are lame insults all you can do
M - I *am* actually a pilot, 25 years now. And no, I’m not going to waste any more time on you. Adios.
All of these people were proper presenters, well executed plant tour
I absolutely loved the "How to build a wing" with all its annotations! It was so much fun to watch
Paul is my favorite reporter in aviation, always interesting, informative, and of course entertaining. Thanks
Exactly, everything about that sweater and safety glasses screams old hippie aviation enthusiast but I also kept wondering what brand of dentures he's wearing. It looks very well tucked and hidden.
I also think there's a market opportunity in the geriatric class for stylish dentures. What could be more awesome than DA40 engraved dentures or a Lycoming swoosh.
All the knowledge and materials involved At low volume tells one why an airplane is so expensive😉
B. E. Russell, Ding, ding, ding!
They're expensive because of lawyers and bad government. Don't kid yourself.
Its the time involved to get an aircraft certificated.
Engine and certification kid
I live 40 minutes from the Diamond plant in London, Ontario and always wanted to see inside it. Now I have.
I can't imagine life without youtube lol.
I live 5 minutes away from a prison, I don't feel the same way.
After seeing how much scrutiny and fine attention to detail goes into these airplanes, I begin to appreciate why they cost a million bucks.
I was lucky enough to have flown the DA20, DA40 and DA42 during my training and always enjoyed flying them, so great watching a video on how they're built.
This is a fantastic walkthrough. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us and thanks to Diamond for allowing us to see so much behind the scenes.
I weekly fly those aircrafts and it was amazing vid to actually look how those composite processes were done on these aircrafts. Now I know a fun fact that the nose gear is not completely centered
Hey Sally! Looking good in the video!! Keep those Harnesses coming!! 👍😊
Thanks, Paul, for coming up to Ontario for this video. Your Canadian fans appreciate it. :-)
I'm about to start my MEI training in a DA-42NG. Dig it! Thanks for the vid!
Interesting they put static wicks on these. I have a pipistrel and it is all composite, no wicks and no issues with static buildup. Nice looking factory, great video.
All u guys should be happy and proud to work in such an industry..in australia we can't even build a toaster
Great review and tour Paul! I’ve got around 100 hours in a da40 and it’s a wonderful airplane to fly. My short list also includes a da62 (maybe one day).
One of the most interesting videos from this channel. Thank you.
That Was A Great Presentation!
Great episode thanks! What an amazing history the factory has! Nicely done graphics! They look like they are building bix Airfix planes! I'm not a flyer but now I'm convinced that if I ever wanted a plane it would be from Diamond!
Nice video -- great visuals and great commentary!
Lovely aircraft....thanks Paul and AV web team.
A very nice presentation Paul. I am so delighted with my DA62 - just brilliant, best in class and, above all, SAFE !!
You can see why some manufacturers prefer metal. Composite manufacturing looks very involved to me yet guess modern performance expectation demands its use. I never knew there was a machine that loaded resin onto fibre sheet on demand and just thought they bought it in pre-preged and kept it in a fridge. What was most noticeable to me was the lack of robots which makes a nice change to see in an advanced manufacturing facility.
A wonderful factory. It is the same backward as glider. I am currently considering purchasing a DA62. It was very helpful.
Another Excellent Production Paul !! Great Job !!!
This is quite interesting. It is good to see the quality control checks that are involved. Composites are light weight but there should be testing in place to ensure the quality of the manufacturing process.
I learned to fly in a 1998 DA20. Still one of the most fun, nimble planes I have flown.
Top-notch animation and graphics.
I have seen these aircraft in Vancouver and thought they looked somewhat fragile with the thin fuselage but I am definitely mistaken after watching this video. What an impressive airplane.
Beautiful craft.
Touch one and compare the feel to that of a legacy aircraft (Cessna, Piper, etc.) The feel is noticeably sturdier. It feels like one, single, solid object.
They are many times stronger than aluminum monocoque craft like Cessna and Beech. I spoke to a retired pilot who was hit from above on final approach and dropped from 400 ft to crash. He had a sore wrist because he broke the stick (it’s designed to break just that way!) and some bruises. The pilot that hit him was in a basic aluminum fuselage, broke many bones and was hospitalized. The Diamond was repaired and put back on the line. The other aircraft was literally a pile of bent metal.
Also, an early DA20 was landed upside down due to wake turbulence with similar results!
Fantastic airplanes, I flew them for 20 years, hopefully this company will be more profitable in future.
Looking at their production systems? They will be eaten alive with so many inefficiencies. They were acquired by Chinese company back in 2017, this video was done in 2020 so I'm assuming that things started to change there already.
Awesome video! Really get to understand how Diamond has been so successful.
Cool Vid, and hello from Production at Diamond Austria ✈️♦️♥️🍺
The comments at the bottom left of the blueprint part were great! Lol 😂
Great video, awesome content!
That animation tho! Love it. And I want one of those fiber impregnating machines!
Apparently the animator didn’t love making it though! 3:43
12:30..... measuring efficiency is not about keeping quality consistent or at a high level. It is about pushing the employees to work as fast as they can with as few mistakes as possible. Often times that leads to a lower quality product being pushed out the door because people are watching the "efficiency clock".
placement of thick orange wire in front of computer monitor seen at 13:07 - not so efficient.
That was a spectacular video! So interesting to see a plane made, especially a composite one.
hey, nice video, and I can see many people I worked with in 2016-2017, was exhausting but good then, best regards from Germany
Love the channel , specially to see how its made. Wonderful vid.
Wow, that wire stripping machine is straight from heaven.
Thank you Paul I love your videos and I hope one day you will get that red da62
Very interesting report from the factory
Really well done video! Super impressed.
cool no vacuum infusion, just vac bagging or prepreg. I love that idea. so simple yet elegant. that vac bagging is for consolidation only so it so simple
Excellent presentation. Thank you for sharing!
Is very amazing, see these process of fabrication of Diamond.
Awesome as usual great work I enjoy your videos! And hummer in other places.
Awesome animations, really simplifies the understanding of the whole process. Great video overall, thank you for posting this.
Hi, AVweb! I'm not a pilot, but I enjoy watching your videos! Do a review of the Flaris LAR01 - those single jets are so cool!
Out standing videos 👍👍👍😊 thanks for the info and the idea to building these are great 👍👍 take care stay safe down there 👍 everyone.
You think all of the people watching this won't notice 3:43?
.
Look at the lower left. 🤣🤣🤣
.
I love it though. Very informative, and Diamond makes good aircraft.
Smart way to argue with the boss. Lol.
Smart way indeed! Lol
Yeah, it was poorly done. The main reason I watched this video was to learn about composite construction. The video just kinda skips thru it.
Thanks for the video. Very resourceful🙏
You make awesome videos. Well done!
How I would love to own one of those beautiful aircraft..
Excellent video Paul. I really enjoyed the editing, hidden humor, visual aids, and process information. In particular, it was great to learn about the anti-static chemical they spray on the wings during the paint process. That , and how they test for PASS/FAIL of that static electricity wicking system. I always thought they must have had some kind of metallic mesh woven into the composite, or something. Learning about the avionics wiring and test equipment was also very interesting. Keep up the good work !
If I could choose the next topic, I would select cockpit window technology. How has the testing process ( chicken cannons ) , materials, and construction of the forward windows evolved over the years? Can they withstand bird strikes any better ?? Are they stronger and lighter ? Is it all about the same as of a particular date ? Curious minds want to know......:)
This was astonishing: I would have expected automation and robotics at some stages, but no, it's hand-crafting all the way. Also answered a question I posted elsewhere: can they be delivered in containers, instead of ferrying, with wings/engines off and the whole craft in a container and assembled at destination. The answer seems to be no because the wings are really "fused" with the fuselage.
Wings are removable - they are not fused, but bolted. There is a small rubber gasket that protects the seam. I don't know the process of disassembly and assembly and the economics of it, but it can be done.
@@ingramleedy Thanks for that! Now all I need is the lottery win so I can personally evaluate the cost of disassembled shipment and ferry flight! 😆
@@michaelhoffmann2891 I did my instrument training in a DA40 NG and got spoiled! I absolutely loved it and I cannot go back to anything lessor. I put in an order for one, 12 months out ... Gives you time to save. :-) Im sure its easier to ferry the aircraft to wherever you are -- This link has Mike Lang who does it for Diamond, some cool adventure videos ua-cam.com/users/MickeLang
That was fascinating thanks for posting this.
This is fantastic... Thanks diamond
I figured out who Paul reminds me of. It’s Lt. Dangle from Reno 911. I can’t stop thinking about this now. You’re welcome.
Thanks, excellent show
GREAT coverage of the process... Can you imagine that detail in the Ford Factory making B-24s?
Great vid, more like this please!
DA-62 is my dream airplane.
if they add a cabin pressurization on the da62 it will be perfect and will be the ultimate GA piston aircraft money can buy.
That plus autothrottle, autoland, and a BRS parachute haha
There's a reason the SR22 has a fatal accident rate 5x's and sky high insurance rates over the DA-40. And it has a parachute for the entire plane. Can you say side sticks? The DA-40 is about a perfect as you can get, maybe a jet chute option?
I hit subscribe because of this video. Amazing work!
Wow , thx for the tour
Hey Paul, a brief reference to how composite glider manufacturers have developed all of the molded parts construction from the 1960's on would have been helpful. Modern gliders are made in the very same way and were the forerunners of this impressive technology.
I’ve probably watched this 4 times since it was published. Lol.
That's what's my lovely works .... creative
Paul, I would be interested to see a comparison of Diamond and Cirrus in terms of safety. Both are makers of high-tech composite light aircraft, and both pride themselves on safety. Cirrus takes the approach of having an airframe parachute, optional FIKI, and very sophisticated avionics, while Diamond simply focuses on building a plane with very safe handling characteristics and a very crashworthy cabin.
I'd love to have a DA-62!
The DA40 is a really great airplane to fly.
2:45 Peel ply is a releasing layer so that you can remove the breather and resin dispersion mesh easily. Why would you put peel ply in between the carbon fibre and the fibre glass? That makes no sense!
I worked for Diamond in engineering. This is definitely an error in the animation because we certainly never did this for any lay-up. As the original comment said, it makes no sense.
Edit: we also put peel ply in areas where something will be bonded as it leaves a rough surface finish!
You're absolutely right and the explanation at 2:45 is simply wrong. The peel ply sits as top layer under the perforated vacuum film. :)
such an amazing video. thanks a lot
You've got the best job in the world.
Great work!
That was plain awesome very interesting
Is Paul a licensed journalist in Canada? That's a great report.
Oh...MY...GAWD...12:05. As a former 2M Tech aboard a navy ship, this makes me extremely jelly
Good luck with what you are doing....personally for the rest of my life i will be trusting oldschool analog teck .I must say i would very much like a pair of supercub wings built with carbon fiber.
Very cool built in CAN.guys.
DA62 is my dream!
Wow, I really like this one
Hello all,
Regarding the wing manufacturing i understand that first the lower wing skin is layed up, compacted using vacuum bag and precured. Then the ribs and spar are placed and again precured, then the upper skin is laid up and precured. Doesn't the upper skin also need compaction?
Also if the upper and lower skin are seperate don't they form a rough surface or a joining mark on the wing skin which is not desirable?
Just had a random thought.
If Diamond made a small GA Helicopter while keeping the same style as their fixed wing aircraft including the T tail, it would be very beautiful.
Now that was awesom
4:19 Workers jamming to hot tunes lmao
great video!!!!!!!!!
I learned to fly on a Diamond DA-20.
It was a very revealing plant tour, though I'm sure some of their "secret sauce" was edited out. It seems like a nice environment to work in, but I thought I'd see more masks considering the "sanding, a lot of sanding".
Bodymen are a different breed, there would be times im grinding fiberglass with no shirt on, not at that plant of course..
4:14 negative, I did, but not a single guy could give me a proper answer! (till now). thnx a lot Sir!
Take away message: Even a small and simple aircraft is not so simple...
jajajaja fantásticas, didácticas, divertidísimas y muy divertidas los dibujos animados, de verdad muchas gracias amigos un abrazo desde Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivia.
fantastic, didactic, hilarious and very funny cartoons, really thank you very much friends, a hug from Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivia
Perhaps I am out of line here but the inefficiencies in the manufacturing are staggering to me. They are essentially constructing the aircraft using modern processes but using 1940s techniques, and I am genuinely not sure why. Surely once you get producing at the scale and cost of Diamond it starts making sense to machine automate things like layering large wing and fuselage pieces, and placing the switches into the panels autonomously. Some of the assembly work, particularly final assembly, probably *is* better done by people, but given how much automation is available I'm really surprised, and I can't see the cost required to set up those custom processes taking long to recoup with the price of their aircraft combined with the admittedly quite admirable rate of production they seem to have going.
I really enjoyed that, thanks
Looks very good. Lots of money cost to be purchased
Fantastic
shame I live so far from either location, that avionics wiring room seems like my dream job. No, not joking.
Great video. I'm kind of surprised there is so much fiberglass and wet layup. I would have thought there would be more prepreg in huge autoclaves.. but I guess that would be too expensive..
iTs also unnecessary. Carbon fibre is best used when your pushing the design geometry to the limit. Strong fibre glass mesh with high quality epoxys produce incredibly strong composites and at a much lower cost. CF is a little like titanium. Have a look at the strength to weight ratio of Chromoly and titanium it ain't that different but its not as sexy as titanium so people use ti to people be interested in the product.
@@gusbisbal9803 If profit margins weren't an issue and they wanted the best performance possible, you can be sure they wouldn't be using fiberglass. good carbon fiber is over 2x as strong as fiberglass...
also, while pure titanium may have the same specific strength as CrMo, titanium alloys can be over 3x better... not to mention it has many other properties than can be more favorable in certain applications.
@@hzmeister9596 how much more do the titanium alloys cost than CrMo? Can you answer that? In relation to the fibre glass. If profit margins were not an issue they would be using two jet turbines instead of props. Diamond aircraft is not an artisan workshop where art is their objective and if they make nothing if does not matter. Every single material choice ever made is based off of cost versus return.
Hello and thank you for this excellent video.
There is something wrong here or i dont get it. Check the wing laminate starting 2:38. It shows that they add peel ply between the laminate layers. Why is that ? They dont want the layers to adhere together ?
excelente trabajo