
Diamond Aircraft CEO Christian Dries is nothing if not a pragmatist, albeit an adventurous one. At April’s Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany, he showed both sides of the same coin when he announced three new single-engine piston models, one powered by an untried new gasoline engine from Lycoming. The latter even he concedes is an admission of sorts. The diesel engines Diamond has championed for 15 years haven’t fared we’ll in the high-performance single-engine market simply because the power options haven’t been there.