Diamond Aircraft Industries today announced that D-JET serial number 003 completed its first flight, marking another important milestone in the company's D-JET personal jet program. The aircraft departed from Diamond Aircraft's London, Ontario facility for a successful 1 hour and 25 minute flight with Chief Test Pilot Daniel Ribeiro at the controls. The flight went exactly as planned with completion of all test cards.

D-JET 003's initial test program will focus on performance and handling quality refinement, similar to the mission of previous Diamond D-JET flight test aircraft, but will additionally be used to further develop key systems, including avionics, fuel, autopilot, and anti-ice. Later this year S/N 003 will be retrofit with the Williams International FJ33-19 engine, to begin testing with the production configuration powerplant.

The D-JET is designed specifically for the owner pilot, with attainability from both a financial as well as pilot qualification perspective. The combination of an extremely roomy cabin and three large baggage compartments, with a familiar flight envelope (to FL250), the FADEC-controlled FJ33 engine and the Garmin G1000 3-screen flight deck, makes the D-JET the ideal Personal Light Jet, for pilots stepping up from high performance piston singles, twins and light turboprops or downsizing from expensive-to-operate, older, light business jets.