I used sailplane tape over that joint on my DA40 when I bought a roll to block one of the fresh air vents (an experiment in reducing the sound; a successful experiment). It kept the whole joint area and solution much cleaner and better looking.

I haven't yet done the same thing on my DA42.

I saw one setup where the DA40 owners put a dolly under the nose wheel so that when they winched it back the nose wheel didn't affect the steering.

I had 1,600 hours in my DA40 when I sold it. It was amazing aircraft and I wrote about it being my favorite plane . I had the 40 gallon version and I had no trouble with four adults in it, but my wife is a hundred pounds. Other people can speak to that better than I can. You could get a POH from an ...

Yes, there may be less zero fuel payload available, but there is a lot more flexibility of what to use to eat up that payload. I didn't even notice how close mine was to the DA40 I traded for it, I just noted that I could have 75 gallons of fuel, which was waaaaay more than I would ever fly with, so...

I like KSJC, but I have never landed Reid-Hillview. SJC is not cheap, but they usually have a crew car for me to run to get my passengers or jump to In-N-Out.

I saw a DA20 at KORS when I last landed there. So there's at least one in the area.

Mine were swapped on more than one occasion.

Locking them doesn't prevent theft of fuel (there is no lock for the sump drain), but it makes it a *little* bit harder and keeps people from putting things IN your fuel tank.

I flew 1,600 hours with the KAP140. Maybe 1,800 now that I think about it, since I flew the DA42 with the KAP140 first. I think for single pilot IFR there's a significant safety advantage to the Garmin series (I now have the GFC700). Being able to climb at a specific airspeed is a world of differenc...

Amazing that they got my plane IN my hangar for the simulation.

I hope I can land at Meigs Field again.