On Monday August 16th, 2004 Diamond Testpilot Gerard Guillaumaud ferried the Oshkosh display DA42 Twin Star back to Wiener Neustadt, Austria, to continue optional equipment certification. Remarkably, the twin diesel engine DA42 was flown from London, Ontario, Canada to Porto, Portugal, Europe with only one stop, in St. John's Newfoundland, Canada.
The leg from London to St.John's (1,300 nm / 2,407 km), took Guillaumaud 7 ½ hrs. The trans atlantic leg of (1,900 nm / 3,518 km), from St.John's to Porto Portugal, was completed in 12 ½ hrs. Had it not been for adverse weather conditions in Europe, the remaining 5 hrs of fuel upon landing in Porto would have been sufficient to reach Guillaumaud's planned destination of Toulouse, France, a planned non stop distance of over (2,500 nm / 4,630 km). Average combined fuel burn for the crossing, flown at 11,000 ft (3,353 m), was an incredible 5.74 gph /22 l (2.87 gph / 11 l per engine)! Guillaumaud set engine power at a fuel conserving 42% and achieved an average ground speed of 152 kts (281.5 km/h).
The Diamond Star's optional 78 gallon(300 l) long range fuel tanks were supplemented with a 26 gallon (100 l) ferry tank.
The total amount of Jet fuel consumed for the crossing, 72 gallons (272 l) cost less than US$ 200! The point to point travel time was considerably faster than any available commercial flight combination, illustrating the Diamond Star's practicality as a personal or business transportation alternative.
This flight represents the first non-stop transatlantic crossing by a diesel engine powered aircraft in general aviation and underlines the efficiency and reliability of the DA42 Twin Star TDI.