I flew a G1000 DA-20 earlier tonight. I have a ton of comments, don’t know if I can remember them all. he first is I am a low time pilot 170 hours, 90 since March in my Cirrus and should have the Instrument rating in a month or so.
The Good, it is a really slick presentation and you can switch back and forth if you loose the PFD you can display it on the right screen. The PFD screen has a small version on the display of what our GPS would be showing since the GPS is in the back. The right screen has the engine display down the left side all the time. The breakers are where you can actually see them without breaking your back. My Pumpkin gets in the way. The Nav side of the radios automatically idents the navaids, when we flew the ILS into Little Rock I-LIT popped up on the top of the screen. I like this and I don’t like this. The seats are pretty comfortable, much better than the Katanas I learned in. However, they still lean back too far, part of the G-force protection. It has bigger vent windows than the Katana, nice on the ground for taxi in the rain. The VSI indicator is just a little tag with a number, I like ours better. The autopilot is not as nice as the 55x. On the airspeed side on the tape you can adjust, and it will tag all your V-speeds.
Now for the don’t like side of the equation. Boy am I spoiled, the cabin is not quite 42 inches wide, and I am not a little guy, 5’10" and 230 lbs. There is very little head room, in turbulence my head would hit the ceiling hard. I forgot how rock steady a Cirrus is, some bumps aloft, all that air was going east for some reason. The radio are very different. The numbers are just up top and they are split with Comm1 on one side and Comm 2 on the other. The active freq is the one that is the innermost. The stick is in the way of my large legs, I play soccer and have big thighs. The glide slope is similar to ours, the localizer is just the HSI, no seperate one like the Cirrus. The 180 is a dog and I fly a 20 in hot, humid conditions. Flat out today TAS is about 120, my plane is 140 to 145. They also display TAS and GS no where near the IAS tape. There is an integrated transponder. All in all there are way too many buttons compared to the Avidyne. It too yells traffic about planes on the ground. The dash is too high, I have a tall sitting height ( I have short legs) and there is not a good view over the dash. This is all I can remember at this time. Wouldn’t trade them even for N5129J, but will probably move up to a 22 when I get my rating if Cirrus will sell me one.
Please join the members section, there is great sruff over there all the time, I am glad I did, although my wife thinks I have an online girlfriend
So you wouldnÂ’t trade your state of the art four-place SR20 for a two-place flying lawnmower (albeit a technologically advanced one). Good to know. [:D]
Thanks for your comments on using the Garmin G1000. I havenÂ’t had the chance to fly with the panel yet, but would like to sometime. Maybe IÂ’ll demo the DA42 just for kicks when it becomes available down the road.
I flew a G1000 DA-20 earlier tonight. I have a ton of comments, don’t know if I can remember them all. he first is I am a low time pilot 170 hours, 90 since March in my Cirrus and should have the Instrument rating in a month or so.
The Good, it is a really slick presentation and you can switch back and forth if you loose the PFD you can display it on the right screen. The PFD screen has a small version on the display of what our GPS would be showing since the GPS is in the back. The right screen has the engine display down the left side all the time. The breakers are where you can actually see them without breaking your back. My Pumpkin gets in the way. The Nav side of the radios automatically idents the navaids, when we flew the ILS into Little Rock I-LIT popped up on the top of the screen. I like this and I don’t like this. The seats are pretty comfortable, much better than the Katanas I learned in. However, they still lean back too far, part of the G-force protection. It has bigger vent windows than the Katana, nice on the ground for taxi in the rain. The VSI indicator is just a little tag with a number, I like ours better. The autopilot is not as nice as the 55x. On the airspeed side on the tape you can adjust, and it will tag all your V-speeds.
Now for the don’t like side of the equation. Boy am I spoiled, the cabin is not quite 42 inches wide, and I am not a little guy, 5’10" and 230 lbs. There is very little head room, in turbulence my head would hit the ceiling hard. I forgot how rock steady a Cirrus is, some bumps aloft, all that air was going east for some reason. The radio are very different. The numbers are just up top and they are split with Comm1 on one side and Comm 2 on the other. The active freq is the one that is the innermost. The stick is in the way of my large legs, I play soccer and have big thighs. The glide slope is similar to ours, the localizer is just the HSI, no seperate one like the Cirrus. The 180 is a dog and I fly a 20 in hot, humid conditions. Flat out today TAS is about 120, my plane is 140 to 145. They also display TAS and GS no where near the IAS tape. There is an integrated transponder. All in all there are way too many buttons compared to the Avidyne. It too yells traffic about planes on the ground. The dash is too high, I have a tall sitting height ( I have short legs) and there is not a good view over the dash. This is all I can remember at this time. Wouldn’t trade them even for N5129J, but will probably move up to a 22 when I get my rating if Cirrus will sell me one.
Please join the members section, there is great sruff over there all the time, I am glad I did, although my wife thinks I have an online girlfriend
jim
when you say yours goes 140-145 what do you mean? is that the TAS in your SR20?
So you wouldnÂ’t trade your state of the art four-place SR20 for a two-place flying lawnmower (albeit a technologically advanced one). Good to know.
Thanks for your comments on using the Garmin G1000. I havenÂ’t had the chance to fly with the panel yet, but would like to sometime. Maybe IÂ’ll demo the DA42 just for kicks when it becomes available down the road.
The DA-40 is four places, just no useful load to carry 4. I don’t know why they derated the IO-360 to 180 hp and not 200 like my 20
I flew a G1000 DA-20 [emphasis mine] earlier tonight.
I thought you meant the DA40, but when you started talking about Katana seat comfort I thought maybe you were comparing old DA20 vs. new as opposed to DA20 vs. DA40. Anyway, thanks for clarifying. [:)]
I haven’t been in a DA40, but I know exactly what you are talking about with the DA20 seats because I have done a number of cross-countries in them going back some years. I don’t think I have had a sorer A$$ in an airplane than when I flew those early Katanas for a couple of hours at a time. Very fun little aircraft, though. I even blew a coolant hose in one and the aircraftÂ’s inherited glider genes really paid off and allowed me to limp back to the airport before the engine seized.
The Katana is a blast to fly, that is what I did my private in. We have the ones without the Rotax, so more power. The are a blast to spin and doing an engine out is almost a joke, as you found out. We were taught to just keep stalling the plane over a field, lots of wheat and rice fields between Little Rock and Memphis, with a dirty stall of 34 the impact wouldn’t be that bad. Luckily ours were also equipped with Garmin 420, so I was up to speed with the 430. Never been in a plane without a Garmin.
The problem with the DA-40 is the front is the same size as the DA-20. However the seats are munch more padded. I flew both my solo PPL cross countries one day, I was sore, and I have lots of natural padding.
We have the ones without the Rotax, so more power.
In reply to:
Luckily ours were also equipped with Garmin 420, so I was up to speed with the 430. Never been in a plane without a Garmin.
Ahh, you flew the civilized DA20. I flew a couple of early serial number Rotax models. Definitely fun though!
The DA40 really is a nice enough airplane, but I think that the SR20 is still the hands-down winner (with which I’m sure you agree otherwise you probably would not own one). [:)] The G1000 equipped DA42 does intrigue me, however, as Cirrus does not have anything in the multi-engine category.
In reply to:
Luckily ours were also equipped with Garmin 420, so I was up to speed with the 430. Never been in a plane without a Garmin.
Ahh, you flew the civilized DA20. I flew a couple of early serial number Rotax models. Definitely fun though!
The DA40 really is a nice enough airplane, but I think that the SR20 is still the hands-down winner (with which I’m sure you agree otherwise you probably would not own one). The G1000 equipped DA42 does intrigue me, however, as Cirrus does not have anything in the multi-engine category.
My instructor thinks that the DA-42 may be “the” plane if it deliveries what it promises. He loves the Cirrus and wil be a CSIP next month, he has 800+hrs in 20 and 22s. He doesn’t like the stick on long cross countires in the Diamonds as well.
i was just surprised by the slow speed. i thought the sr20’s got in the 150-155 range.
Larry
I often fly 140-145 LOP if I’m in no hurry or flying with other aircraft. My SR20 has been to 161KT @2000’ but at a high fuel flow of 17 -18 GPH.
The attached pic shows a level attitude 154TAS /216GS at 11.7GPH (244.1 on the descent).
Larry
I often fly 140-145 LOP if I’m in no hurry or flying with other aircraft. My SR20 has been to 161KT @2000’ but at a high fuel flow of 17 -18 GPH.
The attached pic shows a level attitude 154TAS /216GS at 11.7GPH (244.1 on the descent).
John
SR20 N468JP #1261
