When was the Diamond DA50 RG certified?

EASA type certification was granted on 9 September 2020 and FAA certification followed on 25 July 2023. The current airframe first flew in 2017 after a long development programme that cycled through several engine concepts before settling on the Continental CD-300 diesel.

What engine does the Diamond DA50 RG use?

The DA50 RG uses a Continental CD-300 single — a 300 hp Jet-A piston diesel with EECU single-lever power control. Burn is roughly 9 gph in economy cruise. The CD-300 is a separate Continental product line from the avgas IO-550 that powers the Cirrus SR22 and Beechcraft Bonanza; it shares the Continental diesel architecture lineage.

Is the Diamond DA50 RG complex and high-performance?

Yes on both. Retractable tricycle gear and the EECU-managed constant-speed propeller meet the FAR 61.31 definition of a complex aircraft; the 300 hp Continental CD-300 is above the 200 hp high-performance threshold. A school using the DA50 RG can issue both endorsements on the same airframe alongside the IFR training profile.

How does the DA50 RG compare to the Cirrus SR22 and Beechcraft Bonanza?

All three are five- to six-seat 300 hp+ high-performance singles, but they differ on fuel: the DA50 RG burns Jet-A through its Continental CD-300 diesel; the SR22 burns 100LL through a Continental IO-550; the Bonanza burns 100LL through a Continental IO-550 (with several variants over the years). The DA50 RG is the only retractable of the three (the SR22 is fixed-gear) and is the only one whose fuel pathway sits inside the broader Jet-A piston transition rather than depending on G100UL or engine swaps.

How much does a Diamond DA50 RG cost?

New-build DA50 RG list price has typically sat near 1.0 million USD in recent years depending on options. Hourly operating cost is dominated by Jet-A fuel at roughly 9 gph and by the Continental CD-300 maintenance schedule; budget hourly operating cost is in the 165 to 240 USD per hour range for fuel plus reserves, before hangar, insurance, capital, and instructor cost.

Diamond Aircraft Industries

DA50 RG

Single-engine piston · Personal / touring · 2010s onward — modern

Photo: Jackmar1 at English Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Power: 300 hp
Cruise: 172 kt
MTOW: 4,407 lb
Range: 750 nm
Fuel: Jet-A (diesel piston)

🇺🇸Specs shown in Imperial.

Performance

Cruise speed (Vc)172 kt
Never-exceed speed (Vne)200 kt
Stall (landing config) (Vs0)60 kt
Climb rate980 fpm
Service ceiling20,000 ft
Range750 nm
Endurance7 h
Takeoff roll1,620 ft
Landing roll1,850 ft

Weights

MTOW4,407 lb
Empty weight3,197 lb
Useful load1,210 lb
Baggage capacity220 lb

Dimensions

Wingspan41.5 ft
Length28.9 ft
Height9.2 ft
Cabin width51 in

Powerplant

EngineContinental CD-300 — 300 hp · Jet-A · 9 gph
Total horsepower300 hp
Primary fuelJet-A (diesel piston)
Unleaded pathJet-A piston diesel

Cockpit & avionics

Cockpit typeglass
Autopilot commonly availableYes
Typical packages
- Garmin G1000 NXi— current new-build standard
- Garmin GFC 700 integrated autopilot— standard on new-build
Training note
DA50 RG ships with the Garmin G1000 NXi and GFC 700 integrated autopilot as standard — the same avionics package fitted to the DA40 NG, DA42-VI, and DA62. Schools running a mixed Diamond fleet gain a fully consistent G1000 NXi student experience from ab-initio through complex / high-performance / multi-engine training without an avionics-syllabus switch.

Certification

RegulatoryEASA CS-23 · FAR Part 23
Certified rolesNormal category — IFR / day / night
IFRYes
Spin approvedNo
Aerobatic-categoryNo
TailwheelNo
Complex (FAR 61.31)Yes
High-performance (FAR 61.31)Yes

Why is the DA50 RG popular?

Structured popularity-driver evidence. Each axis below carries one factual statement; we don't grade, the facts speak.

Fuel future-proofing

Continental CD-300 burns Jet-A rather than 100LL, which insulates the airframe from the FAA EAGLE / California UNL94 lead-fuel transition timeline and lets a school standardise on a single Jet-A supply across DA40 NG / DA42 / DA62 / DA50 RG fleets.

Industry network effects

Shares the Wiener Neustadt carbon-composite airframe philosophy, Garmin G1000 NXi panel, and parts-network depth of the existing Diamond fleet. Schools and corporate owners already operating the DA40 NG / DA42 / DA62 can add a DA50 RG without expanding the parts catalogue or instructor training profile materially.

Regulatory fit

Retractable tricycle gear and a constant-speed-equivalent propeller (managed by the CD-300 EECU single-lever control) place the type inside the FAR 61.31 complex category; installed power of 300 hp is above the FAR 61.31 high-performance threshold, so one airframe covers both endorsements.

Operating economics

Continental CD-300 burns roughly 9 gph of Jet-A in economy cruise — substantially less per gallon and per BTU than a comparable 300 hp avgas powerplant on a Bonanza or Cirrus SR22, though the type-acquisition cost is materially higher than for a legacy 100LL retract.

Before you buy more aircraft

The next airframe is rarely the highest-leverage move.

Flight school revenue is a function of three things — utilisation, dispatch reliability, and student progression — that multiply rather than add. Most schools running below 850 hours per aircraft per year have hidden capacity worth more than the next purchase, already paid for and sitting on the ramp.

Read: Why buying more aircraft probably won't grow your school

Operations

Record hours, no profit

Where margin actually leaks when the schedule looks full.

Strategy

The three hurdles to profitability

The structural barriers most expansion plans miss.

How flight schools track this aircraft in Aviatize

Schools configure the DA50 RG in Aviatize as one airframe with the Continental CD-300 engine modelled as a child component for TBR / overhaul-reserve tracking. Fuel is Jet-A; the diesel fuel-burn profile and the CD-300 maintenance schedule should be modelled separately from any avgas piston fleet so reserves accrue against the right TBR. Retract-gear cycles are tracked separately. Pilot-currency rules should gate the resource on a current FAR 61.31 complex and high-performance endorsement.

schedulingtraining managementaircraft maintenancebilling

Editorial confidence

High confidenceLast reviewed 2026-05-26

Powerplant, certification, and configuration data sourced from the Diamond manufacturer pages and EASA TCDS reference. Acquisition-cost figure is an approximate band consistent with public dealer listings; new-build production data is current as of 2024.

Sources

Primary sources are POH / TCDS / manufacturer pages; derived sources record where Aviatize editorial synthesis is layered on top.

Primary sourceManufacturer brief·Retrieved 2026-05-14
Diamond Aircraft Industries
https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/private-owners/aircraft/da50/overview/
Diamond Aircraft DA50 RG product overview, current factory reference.
Primary sourceManufacturer brief·Retrieved 2026-05-26
Diamond Aircraft Industries
https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/private-owners/aircraft/da50/tech-specs/
Diamond DA50 RG technical specifications page. Facts verified on this page on 2026-05-26: Continental CD-300 turbocharged common-rail direct-injection diesel; 3-blade constant-speed propeller; fuel Jet-A / Jet-A1; MTOW 4,407 lb; empty weight (no options) 3,197 lb / 1,450 kg; max useful load 1,210 lb / 549 kg; cruise speed (MCP) 181 kts TAS; cruise at 82% / 14,000 ft ≈ 172 kts TAS; max range (FL180, 45%) without reserve 820 nm; max range with 30 min reserve 754 nm; consumption at max range 8 gal/h (30.2 l/h); service ceiling 20,000 ft; 5 seats.
Primary sourceEASA TCDS·Retrieved 2026-05-14
European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/document-library/type-certificates
EASA TCDS for the DA50 RG; initial type certification September 2020.
Secondary sourceAviatize-internal·Retrieved 2026-05-14
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_DA50
Wikipedia article aggregating the DA50 development history and certification path.
Editorial synthesisAviatize-internal·Retrieved 2026-05-14
Aviatize editorial
Entry authored by Aviatize from accumulated industry knowledge cross-referenced against the primary sources cited above. Operator lists are intentionally empty rather than speculative.

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Photos & credits: each thumbnail opens that aircraft’s page, where the photographer and licence are credited under the hero image.

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