The FFA Diamant (English: Diamond) is a family of Swiss high-wing, T-tailed, single-seat, FAI Standard Class and FAI Open Class gliders that was designed by engineering students under supervision of Professor Rauscher at the ETH Zurich and manufactured by Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein AG (FFA) of Altenrhein, Switzerland.
[1][2] FFA started manufacture of the 15 m (49.2 ft) wingspan Diamant HBV model as its first attempt to build a sailplane.
The early model 16.5 and 18s had issues with structural flutter at high speeds, but this was rectified by FFA for customer aircraft.
The type certificate for the HBV and 16.5 requires that "all external portions of the glider exposed to sunlight must be painted white.
[5][6][7] Data from Sailplane Directory, Soaring and The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage[1][3][8]General characteristics Performance