DA40 G1000 conversion
Steve,
I just did the conversion (a month ago) to a DA40-180 with G1000, from a PA28-180. I have now done 70 hours in the DA40.
A few things I have found:
(1) Plenty of power from the IO360 and with the slippery wings
(2) You need to really know the manifold pressure settings, prop speeds, flap extension speeds (1st and 2nd stage) and landing speeds, as per normal - but I found that you often don't have much time on climb-out and as soon as you are 500ft AGL MP/prop tp 25.0/2500 and take-off flap out.
(3) care on approach and circuit not to overspeed the first stage of flaps (108kts on my aircraft) and particularly landing flaps (91 kts). I found because of this I would tend to put the last stage of flaps in only when on very short final
(4) if you have a strong crosswind, I found that it is better to use no flap and keep the speed up if you have the runway length
(5) the most important difference though is the landing: much flatter than a PA28 and you don't pull back like you do in a PA28 - or if you do, you will balloon/float.
(6) the castoring nose-wheel can take some getting used to. It is easy to use the brakes to control direction on the ground, but I think better to use the rudder but this of course relies on a bit of airflow over the rudder (i.e. ground speed) and using pretty much full rudder.
(7) the G1000 is wonderful: I used the one with the GFC700 autopilot which works great even in quite strong turbulence (enough to lift me out of the seat and bang my headset on the ceiling). BUT the G1000 is complex and easy to get messed up and spend your time looking down to try to sort out what you are doing.. not ideal at 140kts. You need to get to grips with the FPL and Direct to buttons in particular and how to adjust the flightplan to change the magenta line: in my experience the functions of the buttons CLR and ENT and the rotating knobs (inner and outer) are not intuitive to begin with, although fine once you are used to them.
Also, be careful of the autopilot functions, so understand the various modes to get the right VS in particular (easy to request too much so that the aircraft speed reduces quickly or gradually to stall speed) and also watch that if you are too far off track the autopilot will not capture in NAV mode so need to use HDG mode to get to the track.
And finally, even when in NAV mode I suggest you frequently press the HDG knob, so that the HDG bug is on your track, as there are often times you will need to switch the CDI/HSI and flipping to HDG mode keeps you on-track while you do this.
For the G1000 you can get a PC trainer CD free from Garmin UK (just phone them and ask), which is somewhat useful. Also for the G1000 I suggest that you fly for a few hours with someone else being mainly responsible for the flying and lookout (and taking over at any point when you get mixed up) so that you can get used to pressing the right buttons on the G1000.