The Diamond Pilot’s Association (DPA) completed its second full year of operations in 2025. What started off as an idea in 2022, the organization was created in 2023 and formally began operations in the Spring 2023.
Since then, this nascent and widely diverse group of Diamond aircraft enthusiasts have managed to create a worldwide organization to further their interest in improving the Diamond aircraft ownership and operational experience. We have come a long way since then; we have a long way to go to match the other owner and pilot associations that have been around for decades.
DPA is a volunteer organization. No one is on the payroll and everyone’s contributions are borne in their interest in furthering the objectives of the organization.
DPA is also a worldwide organization with members in North America, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia. The only effective means of communicating with such a geographically diverse group is through our website, https://diamond-pilots.org/. This is the focal point of the organization to disseminate information.
DPA Website
Beginning from a standing start, the DPA website has been slowly growing in content. Contributions come from a variety of DPA members covering a wide range of topics. This includes articles about the latest on Austro engines (in conjunction with Austro), MOSAIC medicals and sport pilots, simulators for the G1000 and other articles.
DPA is constantly seeking more input from its members – if you have an idea for an article, contact DPA; better yet, if you would like to author an article and have it added to our library, we would welcome that.
Social Activities
Scott Ramsey is a dynamo in organizing social events for DPA. While there were some regional events in conjunction with other fly-ins, the largest participation is seen at national and international events. This includes Oshkosh in July and DiamondFest in September in London, Ontario, the home of Diamond Aircraft – Canada.
The full slate of events is provided on the DPA website. For 2026, our focus will be on the big events such as Sun ‘n Fun (Florida), Oshkosh (Wisconsin) and DiamondFest (Ontario). These events also see the Diamond dealers for North America and Diamond Aircraft Industries also participate.
In the future, with the assistance of our Australian and European members, we
are hoping to see events on those continents too. Stay tuned.
Owner Surveys
Paul Koch has done remarkable work in creating, analyzing and reporting on the results of two owner surveys. The first, created in late 2023 and reported in 2024, saw over 210 responses across a wide variety of Diamond aircraft and avionics configurations and geographical locations. The survey covered everything from the purchase experience, after sales experience, maintenance & repair, avionics upgrades, and other areas.
In late 2024, Paul created another survey. The results were released in 2025 and are on the DPA website. While the first survey saw 210 responses, the 2024 saw 275 responses, a significant increase reflecting the continued growth in DPA relevance and membership numbers.
DPA’s survey is the most comprehensive survey of individual Diamond aircraft owners. DPA presented the survey results to Diamond Aircraft Industries with the hope that this will assist them in improving the overall Diamond aircraft ownership experience.
Paul will be releasing a new survey shortly – successive surveys continue to expand the breadth of questions of owners and this one will be no different. Stay tuned for its release and we welcome your input.
Meeting with Diamond Aircraft Industries
As part of the creation of DPA, an agreement with DAI was entered into to work together to further the interests of both organizations. This has included debriefing DAI on the results of the 2023 survey, a meeting at Oshkosh 2024 and DiamondFest 2024. 2025 saw an increase in the interaction with DAI and Austro Engines. Meetings were held in Oshkosh, DiamondFest and the Diamond Fly-in at the factory in Wiener-Neustadt in September.
While DPA is enjoying success in many of its endeavours, this is one area where progress has been frustratingly slow. We will not quit and we are hopeful that DAI will see the benefit of working with their ownership group.
On-condition Engine Maintenance – Austro Engines
One of the outcomes of the DPA/DAI Austro meetings in Wiener-Neustadt is an agreement to work together to develop an on-condition engine maintenance system for the Austro engines.
Owners of Continental and Lycoming engines can upload their engine data to organizations like Savvy Analysis to understand how their engines are performing and whether there are any maintenance issues lurking in the background to address the issue early rather than later. The other objective is to be able to fly the engine beyond its TBO (or TBR in the case of the Austro), which these other engines routinely do.
Cooperation is needed from Diamond and Austro to make this happen for those aircraft equipped with Austro engines.
DPA has assembled a team of diversely skilled and experienced professionals (all volunteers) to develop this maintenance program with Austro and Diamond. If this on-condition program is successful as those for the other engines, this will both decrease the cost of ownership by reducing unnecessary maintenance and increase safety by alerting owners early of developing problems.
Membership
DPA member continues a slow climb; we are currently at 225 members. While
this represents a small fraction of the total ownership group, we would like to continue to grow the membership base as the larger the group, the more of a voice and credibility we have with DAI.
Call for Volunteers
DPA is an all-volunteer organization. With our small numbers and modest, annual membership fee, full-time staff is not an option. Since its inception, DPA has seen some of its founding members leave due to personal circumstances, selling their aircraft, etc.
I would like to recognize one of early members, Rich Doyle. Rich provided a wealth of information and was the author of many articles. He sold his DA40 in 2025 and no longer contributes to DPA but his valuable input remains.
If you would like to lend a hand to our organization, we would welcome you. Please contact myself (ed.mcdonald@diamond-pilots.org) or the VP, Paul Koch (paul.koch@diamond-pilots.org).
In Memorium: Steve Zimmermann
Steve was one of the founding members of the Diamond Pilots Association and served as its first Vice-president. Steve was a long-time aviator and owned a Diamond DA62. In addition to be a skilled aviator, he was an accomplished photographer and used his DA62 to create amazing images in flight, particularly over the Rocky Mountains.
Steve had to step away from the Diamond Pilots Association when faced with a poor health prognosis, and he passed away in early 2025.
We are grateful for Steve’s participation in the formation of the association and extent our sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues
