DA42 performance is fine for a 4 seat twin engine aeroplane. It climbs well, has a ceiling of over 20,000' - SE probably over 10,000' - and will cruise at 150kts tas at 80% power with a fuel flow of under 12 USG per hour total. I call that pretty good
But 1000 metres of grass is a lot for a light GA? I Remember the one takeoff I did on tarmac the acceleration felt very poor and dead.
While I fully accept that the pilot should fly to the performance capability of the aircraft and only he is to blame it comes down to expectations and what you have the aircraft for.
Pilots have light GA because they like flying for pleasure and expect to fly into grass strips short tarmac runways etc.
That is where the miss match occurs. They expect to fly a light GA plane but dont expect it to NOT go where you would expect a light GA to go
if you get my gist.
I have flown many twins in my time and have operated Barons and C303s and Senecas in 600 metre landing strips. The DA42 maybe great once its up in the air but not so great until it gets there.
Pilots fault but ???
Pace