British Flight School Sues Diamond Over Diesels

Millen Aviation Services of Kent, England, filed a lawsuit on Dec. 17,
2007, against Diamond Aircraft Industries in Wiener Neustadt, Austria,
over their Thielert diesel-powered DA40s. "The claim for damages is
based on our experience with our two DA40 1.7 TDIs, their extremely
poor reliability, high maintenance costs, waiting time for spare parts
and, our firm belief of their premature release to market without
sufficient research, development and testing," company partner Mike
Millen said in a prepared statement. Diamond did not immediately
respond to AVweb's request for comment. Millen would not comment on
the specifics of the suit or what damages his company seeks from
Diamond, but told AVweb that an Austrian court has already appointed a
judge to hear the case and that Diamond Aircraft hasuntil Jan. 17 to
respond to the lawsuit. Millen said the DA40s remain on Millen
Aviation's flight line at the Rochester Airport along with two Cessna
172s that are powered by their original Lycoming engines.


A little vindication for you Paul.


Matt-

I don't feel vindicated by this. Sounds like it had nothing to to with
the fact that they were diesels. Seems like they were unhappy with the service
and the installation. As I recall the mickey mouse Thielert installation used some
automotive type plumbing parts  which is always a bad idea. One must use
the highest quality plumbing possible with an aircraft installation if one expects
reliability from a liquid cooling system. You can see where they used cheap worm drive
hose clamps on the oil cooler in this C172 installation shown at Sun N Fun
last year. Down right dangerous :) This is a complicated installation. A lot
can go wrong. That is why I harp on simplicity all the time.