The avgas Baron G58 against the Jet A diesel DA62, the clearest illustration of how piston-twin economics have changed.
The Baron remains the stronger heavy-load and long-range piston twin, with familiar conventional engines and a support history built over decades. The DA62 changes the ownership equation through Jet A economy, modern power management and a family-friendly cabin, but diesel support must exist where the aircraft is based and seven seats still do not guarantee seven people with fuel and bags. High annual utilisation favours the Diamond because fuel and operating differences recur on every hour. Lower utilisation and demanding loads can favour the G58, provided the owner budgets honestly for two large avgas engines rather than treating redundancy as free.
The table below uses the same versioned PlaneFit dataset as the Finder. Prices and operating costs are planning estimates, not quotations.
| Decision factor | Beechcraft Baron G58View aircraft profile | Diamond DA62View aircraft profile |
|---|---|---|
| Typical market year | 2023 | 2025 |
| Estimated purchase | €1.44m | €1.55m |
| Annual cash cost at 80 h | €104k | €86k |
| Five-year cash outlay | €1.96m | €1.98m |
| Cruise speed | 202 kt | 180 kt |
| Advertised range | 1480 nm | 1288 nm |
| Seats | 6 | 7 |
| Realistic payload | 701 kg | 568 kg |
| Runway need | 700 m | 883 m |
| Landing gear | Retractable tricycle | Retractable tricycle |
| Ratings and endorsements | Multi-engine rating, Complex airplane endorsement | Multi-engine rating, Complex airplane endorsement |
| Data confidence | Normalized for direct comparison | Normalized for direct comparison |
| Main trade-off | A proven, capable piston twin, but two large engines create operating costs close to some older turboprops. | Excellent cabin utility and efficient twin-engine travel, but seven seats are rarely usable together with long-range fuel and baggage. |
A factual first pass. Mission, condition and configuration can outweigh a brochure advantage.
Over five years including purchase, the Beechcraft Baron G58 is the cheaper of the two up to about 95 hours a year. Above that the Diamond DA62 costs less, because its lower cost per flight hour eventually outruns the difference in purchase price. If you expect to fly near that figure, the two are effectively the same aircraft financially and the decision belongs to mission, cabin and how each one flies.
| Five-year cash, including purchase | Beechcraft Baron G58 | Diamond DA62 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 h / year | $2m (€1.85m) | $2.06m (€1.91m) | $59k (€55k) to Beechcraft Baron G58 |
| 100 h / year | $2.18m (€2.02m) | $2.17m (€2.01m) | $5k (€5k) to Diamond DA62 |
| 200 h / year | $2.47m (€2.29m) | $2.36m (€2.19m) | $113k (€105k) to Diamond DA62 |
The gap widens as utilisation rises, which is the part a headline price comparison hides. Every figure uses the same planning model as the rest of the site: indicative market prices, a fixed annual base and a direct hourly cost, before financing, depreciation and tax.
Advertised range is a still-air, best-case number. With 4 people aboard and realistic reserves, plan on about 992 nm from the Beechcraft Baron G58 against 863 nm from the Diamond DA62. On a return trip without refuelling, that is the radius that decides which destinations are on the list at all.
Against the 28,815 airports in the PlaneFit database that publish a runway length, the Beechcraft Baron G58 has enough runway at 22,252 of them and the Diamond DA62 at 17,224, comparing each aircraft’s take-off requirement of 2,297 ft and 2,897 ft against the longest runway on the field.
This is a planning comparison, not a statement that any particular operation is legal or advisable. It ignores surface, slope, elevation, temperature, obstacles and how heavily the aircraft is loaded, all of which extend the requirement. It also compares take-off distance only: landing distance is frequently the binding constraint and PlaneFit does not hold approved landing distances, so a field in these counts is not necessarily a field you can get back out of, or into.
Nothing separates them here. Both require a multi-engine rating, a complex airplane endorsement, so a pilot qualified for one is qualified for the other.
Six-seat normally aspirated piston twin. Its central ownership trade-off is: A proven, capable piston twin, but two large engines create operating costs close to some older turboprops.
Planning snapshot: $1.56m (€1.44m) indicative price and $112k (€104k) annual cash cost at 80 hours.
Read the full aircraft profileSeven-seat Jet A family and business transport. Its central ownership trade-off is: Excellent cabin utility and efficient twin-engine travel, but seven seats are rarely usable together with long-range fuel and baggage.
Planning snapshot: $1.67m (€1.55m) indicative price and $93k (€86k) annual cash cost at 80 hours.
Read the full aircraft profile