The Diamond DA62 is a 7-seat composite twin-engine GA aircraft, quiet, efficient, glass cockpit. Its landing handling falls between a heavy single (C182) and a light twin (Seneca). Composite construction means it's stiffer than aluminum, which makes hard landings feel harsher to the airframe.
Landing technique
- Final approach speed (Vref) with landing flaps: 84 KIAS up to 1,999 kg, 89 KIAS above that (Diamond's checklist).
- Round out at 15–20 ft AGL. The DA62 has a fairly forgiving flare envelope.
- Land mains first, then ease the nose down, composite gear takes shock well but the nose wheel is small and likes a gentle settling.
- Reverse propeller pitch isn't a thing in piston twins, plan your stopping distance from approach.
- Single-engine handling: if you lose one in the flare, full power on the live engine, rudder into the live engine, fly it onto the runway.
Common mistakes
- Flying the approach by sight instead of by reference speed, the DA62's nose-attitude in the flare is similar to a Cirrus and pilots used to Cessnas often miss it.
- Hard nose-wheel touchdowns, composite gear transmits the shock straight to the airframe.
- Failing to plan stopping distance. No thrust reverse, modest brakes, lots of energy at 85 kt.
Aircraft data
- Manufacturer
- Diamond
- Model
- DA62
- Variant
- DA 62 (only model)
- FAA approach category
- A
- MTOW
- 2300 kg (5071 lbs)
- Vref reference
- 89 kt at 2,300 kg
- Vref in flight
- Adjusted to the weight you land at
- Tail-strike limit
- 11°
- Ideal touchdown zone
- 60–280 m
- G-force curve
- The category's
- MSFS source
- Default Std
- FLARE matches
- Diamond DA62 · DA62
Related reading
- → How FLARE grades a landing · the composite formula behind every score
- → What "stabilized approach" actually means · the gates, the criteria, the technique
- → Light Twin (Piston) scoring thresholds · the category curves applied to this airframe
- → Full scoring methodology reference · the complete breakdown in the help docs