This will be my last post on the matter as I have said it is not really my scene.
In reply to 'confabulous' and to reassure 'B2N2' I agree that the pilot broke the rules in he did not adhere to SOP and the checklist - and for that he paid - fortunatly not with his life. It still begs the question as to whether the fact that this happened does not expose a deeper and far more alarming design failure by 'whoever', and a failure that needs an urgent fix.
You say neither Diamond or Theilert will back down. It matters not one jot whether they do or they don't. If they don't EASA will mandate and that is an end to the matter! They will mandate sooner rather than later which is just as well. It will also be a sad end to a 'marriage made in heaven'.
As for SOP and using the checklist, I was brought up in a tradition of ALWAYS using it and I am totally sympathetic to B2N2 on this issue. I have friends who remained in aviation and are now senior 747 captains or recently retired from such posts and own their own aircraft. In my experience they are almost all religious in their use of a checklist even on a basic Cessna. It is the new PPL's who seem to have a more cavalier attitude.
As for knowing the aircraft and the systems it is very worthwhile. As for fooling with CB's I don't think that's too clever. The SOP and checklist was designed by people who know the aircraft far better than a 'mere driver' will ever do. They are in all probability far better educated and probably far smarter and therefore it follows what they suggest should be treated with some respect. I have had too many young F/O straight from flying school and with a new type rating burning a hole in their pockets who suffered from what I called 'the flying hands' desease! Little hands seemed to have an affinity for pulling little round things in flight. They were just trying to impress but on occasions I have had to say "just sit on your hands and don't touch anything".
It seems I agree with Mike Cross. I wonder if it is the same Mike Cross who attended the same airline flying school as me all those years ago. If it is he will remember the ARB lectures in the wooden hut where we were taught about system redundancy! If it is we also flew in the same airline together. Check your licence number - it probably rather dates us both!
I am not about to cancel my order for a DA42 as I know one party in the dispute will be forced to back down and there will be a proper fix. I am also conscious that all new aircraft, particularly revolutionary ones like the DA42, will have a list of AD's. I ordered the aircraft with my eyes open. I am aware that the Malibu/Mirage had a terrible time here and the whole fleet was grounded for a while which rather frightened me off them.
The important lesson is to learn quickly from incidents and do something positive about it rather than argue the toss over it!
Happy days - I hope!