A couple more tips on what to expect when coming from a DA40: 1. Single-engine work will provide quite a workout of your thigh muscles to hold the aircraft straight to counter yaw. Yes, you can add rudder trim, but in practice where you're only doing this for a few minutes, rudder trim is generally ...

Flightstream 510 only works with G1000 NXi, not the "legacy" G1000 installed in most Diamonds. So it's not really an option. You might want to consider a Flightstream 210, which I understand can be made to work with legacy G1000s. The GTX345R will provide Bluetooth weather, traffic, GPS po...

As for ever upgrading your Avidyne TAS 600 (technically to a "605A" model) for ADS-B IN: Every year at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh I walk into the Avidyne booth and ask when the promised Avidyne ADS-B upgrade will become available for the TAS 600 family of products and I get the same answer: &q...

OK, just to clarify: If you install a new Garmin GTX345R transponder in your G1000 DA40, the functionality of your pre-existing Avidyne TAS 600 active traffic unit is preserved. The GTX345R will correlate targets so that if the same aircraft is picked up via its transponder squawk -AND- via ADS-B IN...

Tom: It's not "trouble" -- In fact, it's actually a lot of fun to get your Commercial single-engine land rating! Definitely more fun than getting your Instrument Rating (where you rarely get to look outside the cockpit ;) ) I used my DA40 to get my commercial about 6 years ago, practicing ...

If it makes you feel any better, the DA62 panel has the same bottom row of circuit breakers in the same order. :) The DA62 panel has it's own issue upon which OCD pilots can nit pick: The location for the tail number placard (e.g., N-number) above the right side of the PFD is tucked directly under t...

Check the tail skeg/ventral fin on the bottom fuselage for a vertical crack at the aft end. In my experience as a Diamond broker, I've seen multiple DA40s that have suffered hard tail strikes and cracked the skeg -- often missed on pre-buys. A new skeg is about $2500 if it needs to be replaced. The ...

Good thing I don't suffer from "shiny jet syndrome" Of course my pilot father used to insist that "Real men fly taildraggers."

DA62 is certified to 20,000 feet (although it will climb to over 30,000). I'm sure the Cirrus Jet is more comfortable for passengers flying up high being pressurized; no need for a "rubber hose up your nose." But 65 gph vs. 15 gph in cruise for a DA62 is quite a difference. On a per-mile b...

These sound like connector issues. If you haven't already done this, pull all the LRUs out of the G1000 equipment bay under the rear baggage compartment, and spray the contacts of the bay with electrical contact cleaner.