Just returned from DiamondFest

Just returned from London, Ontario where we spent a weekend at DiamondFest,
an anual event at the Diamond Aircraft factory. And boy, was it some show!

The D-JET is real! I touched and smelled it. I also saw it take off, buzz
around the field and land, twice. I even sat at the controls, not of the
actual airplane but a mockup, they don't let anyone inside the real one yet.
This baby cruises at 315 kt and seats 5 easy, with the price tag is around
1M. Very quiet too, for a jet. What a great, magnificent machine!

The Twin Star was also a big hit. This twin cruises at around 170kt, and
burns Jet-A fuel at an astonishing 12 GPH or less. The price tag is slightly
less than 500K.

Christian Dries (pronounced "Dreeze"), the Diamond owner and CEO was there,
of course. The guy is like a modern Howard Hughes, full of ideas, vision and
energy.

Also had the pleasure to see and listen to Phil Boyer, the AOPA president.
Among other things, he gave the audience some unsettling statistics: GA is
in trouble because the supply of new private pilots has all but dried up. He
called on everyone to be proactive in recruiting and, most importantly,
*mentoring* new student pilots among friends, co-workers and family members.
Mentoring essentially means nudging 'em to take an intro flight, and then
begging 'em not to drop out when they start practicing stalls.

All in all, this was the most memorable aviation-related experience I ever
had. Diamond is truly a company with vision, taking the General Aviation
fleet to a qualitatively new level.

-- City Dweller, Diamond Star DA-40 owner.

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P.S. I am now quite proficient in theUS-Canadian border crossing procedure.
If anyone is interested, I can post the details of my flight from CDW to
CYXU and back, CYXY - BUF - CDW.