Brand New Owner???

Any DA40 related topics

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Geezer
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Brand New Owner???

Post by Geezer »

Hello All

I’m looking to make my first aircraft purchase.

I’ve just put down a deposit on a 2004 DA40. It’s got 0 hrs on the engine and the prop.

I’ll be flying to complete my PPL, get my instrument and build hours.

I’m also doing a lease back to a flight school.

My main question is about the age of the avionics.

Does anyone have any experience on how the G1000 holds up or what I would be looking at cost wise it it doesn’t?

Thanks in advance.
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mhoran
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by mhoran »

Congrats! We purchased a used 2007 DA40 and it's been great, save for a few maintenance headaches here and there. Hopefully you'll have better luck with mechanics than we have.

We had a number of G1000 issues and they can be quite expensive to fix. We put them off for some time but addressed all the avionics squawks when we had ADS-B installed. We needed a new MFD because the range knob was broken. We also needed to replace a radio, which is an integrated unit (GIA63). The MFD and radio repair each cost nearly $2000. That seems to be about the going rate for repair of any G1000 item.

We never performed the WAAS upgrade, as at the time it was over $25k. There's an option to add WAAS now but we just don't have the need for it. Our home airport has a rather useless instrument approach and our alternate has an ILS. I therefore choose my destination and alternate as appropriate.
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Geezer
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Geezer »

Thanks Matt -

That is very helpful.
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Boatguy
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Boatguy »

If you're planning to do your instrument training you want to be sure it has WAAS. There are many threads here on that subject.
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Colin
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Colin »

I disagree about needing WAAS for the instrument rating. I did my rating without it, upgraded it, and used it for exactly one approach in the years that I had the plane with WAAS.

It *might* be worth upgrading since you will not have the option to upgrade once the parts are used up and the software cannot be upgraded unless you have WAAS. That's a different question.

If I were buying a DA40 now I would just always filter for WAAS being included. Probably a GFC700 as well if I were thinking of doing longer flights in the machine.
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Geezer
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Geezer »

Unfortunately, mine doesn't have WAAS, but in speaking with my instructor he said that precision approaches are the only thing that would be missed.

I have heard that currently there is some sort of work around to upgrade that's not ridiculously expensive.
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Chris »

Geezer wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 3:34 pm Unfortunately, mine doesn't have WAAS, but in speaking with my instructor he said that precision approaches are the only thing that would be missed.
Technically, LPV approaches aren't even considered "precision" approaches, although they do get you better accuracy and lower minimums than basic LNAV approaches.
I have heard that currently there is some sort of work around to upgrade that's not ridiculously expensive.
Whether or not it's ridiculously expensive is subjective, of course. You can find some recent posts here with pricing information and some owners' experiences with the upgrade. If you're worried about resale value later, then you may want to get the upgrade soon since the parts will get harder and harder to come by.
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Rich »

I wind up using WAAS capabilities on every RNAV approach, as I will get glideslope (in the form of "+V") for LP and LNAV, not just LPV. It's not just about minimums. (It could be argued I actually use WAAS an every single flight, since my addition of ADS-B 6 years ago leveraged the preexistence of WAAS in my GNS units.)

There is that "yeah, but" that gets tossed out regarding the "+V" that such a GS is not guaranteed to not bust a minimum at some waypoint or other, so you monitor that and deal with it as necessary. I haven't seen it happen yet.

In the Inter-mountain West, the cities get far apart and the availability of alternative approaches is even more sparse. There is 1 VOR and 1 ILS (essentially the same location) within 100 miles of my home airport. But within 30 nm there are 15 RNAV approaches (14 of which are WAAS of one type or another) to various runways at 5 different airports, including 2 LP(+V) for each end of our main runway here at Prineville.

Of further note: That one ILS (KRDM) was out of service a couple of winters back for 5-6 weeks due to winter storm related damage to ground facilities.
Last edited by Rich on Sun Apr 04, 2021 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Geezer
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by Geezer »

Well that certainly is a lot to consider.

Thanks for your feedback and the links to the upgrade information.

It is appreciated.
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Re: Brand New Owner???

Post by AndrewM »

As with all these matters it depends on your mission and where you are flying as to whether WAAS makes sense to invest in. My first DA40 had WAAS and it was great, but there were plenty of ILS approaches around as well as RNAV. The DA40 I have now does not have WAAS, and I would never invest in the upgrade as again where I fly from most of the time has plenty of ILS options.

So I think it comes down to where you are flying. If there are limited ILS options then it could make sense. To get your Instrument rating I do not think it is necessary or makes much of a difference.
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