Diamond Selects Mecaer America Inc. for D-JET Landing Gear

Mecaer America Inc., a Mecaer Group Company, was selected to supply the landing gear for the Diamond Aircraft D-JET. Mecaer America's scope of work includes design, certification testing, manufacturing and after-sale support of the nose and main landing gear.
"Diamond Aircraft's expertise in composite materials is impressive and we believe the D-JET has great potential," said Giorgio Cozzolino, Mecaer America director of engineering. "Our objective is to deliver a state-of-art landing gear system with particular attention to environmental, technological and operational efficiencies."
"The D-JET is specifically designed for easy transition from high performance singles, twins, and turboprops and extends the comfort, speed, and confidence of jet travel to more people in an affordable aircraft," said Diamond President Peter Maurer. "Mecaer's trailing link landing gear system for the D-JET supports our simple systems design goal by providing all-electric, lightweight, and very reliable systems resulting in trouble-free operation for our D-JET customers."
The first D-JET planned to be equipped with Mecaer landing gear is serial number 004, which is scheduled to be completed this fall.
The move follows the selection of a higher nominal thrust engine in the same Williams engine family for the D-JET – the FJ33-4A-19 in March. The engine's advantages, said Diamond, include several technological advances that result in better bleed air handling and improved specific fuel consumption.
With a 1,900-lb nominal thrust versus 1,564 lbs for the originally planned FJ33-4A-15, the ‘FJ33-19' also offers a potential future performance upgrade path for the D-JET. Williams International's accelerated development schedule of the FJ33-19 has made it viable to proactively launch D-JET deliveries with this engine rather than reactively introducing it at a later date in response to competitive pressures, said the company.
"The FJ33-19 engine is the perfect match for the D-JET, offering the latest technology and a potential performance and utility upgrade path for delivered aircraft that the current engine just doesn't allow,” said Diamond President. “While making this change now means that initial deliveries will now be in Q2, 2009, we are confident this is the right choice and in the interest of all D-JET customers, as it ensures one configuration and maximum resale value for all delivered aircraft,"
Diamond will deliver the FJ33-19-equipped aircraft to current position holders at the contracted price; however, the company announced that a price increase for future orders is expected shortly.
"The FJ33-19 is the very latest in turbofan engine technology and offers unique features never before available on a smaller turbofan engine," explained Matt Huff, vice president of business development at Williams International. "We are pleased that our accelerated development schedule for this engine now makes it feasible for Diamond to launch with the FJ33-19, instead of introducing it after initial aircraft deliveries. Every D-JET customer will now benefit from technological advances, such as the built-in pre-cooler and new compressor technology."