Company makes numerous subtle changes all over aircraft

By ANN Reporter Juan Jimenez

By the time AOPA Expo '03 ended, hundreds of people had stopped by to gole and sit in the NEW Diamond DA-40 with the Garmin G1000 PFD/MFD system. Needless to say, there were plenty of slack jaws to go around.

We at ANN, however, decided to dig a little deeper into the story and get you the inside scoop on what happened to that aircraft.

We know that the G1000 installation is different due to the fact that the display is only two inches thick, and the guts of the system - the LRU's (Line Replaceable Units) are separate from the displays. What we didn't know - but suspected, as we took a close look at the aircraft - is what Diamond had done to the aircraft to make that installation possible. We also saw a few other things that looked different.

We decided to corner Mr. John Gauch, Diamond Aircraft's resident boss/expert, and ask him about this. As we suspected, there was more to the story than met the eye - a lot more - and Mr. Gauch was more than happy to tell us what that was.

The obvious first question is where Diamond decided to put the LRU's. The decision was made to put the boxes and their racks in a compartment underneath the baggage compartment. This not only put them out of the way, they also help balance the CG of the aircraft under various loading conditions. Since the interface between the LRU's and the displays is a simple Ethernet connection, the decision to put the LRU's where it most made sense from a weight and balance point of view was the proverbial no-brainer. In addition, provisions were added to use cabin air to keep the units at appropriate operating temperatures.

The next obvious question was the instrument panel location. This reporter had already sat in the DA-40 sitting out at the static display area. That aircraft had the Avidyne Entegra system, and there was a difference - the panel seemed to be closer to the pilot than on the G1000-equipped airframe. Sure enough, Mr. Gauch told ANN that the panel had been moved forward two inches for the G1000 installation, resulting in more separation between the front seat occupants and the panel.

However, that's only the beginning of the panel's story… The installation of the displays for the G1000 was ergonomically planned. The viewing angle between the panel and the front seat occupants was set to match the optimal angle for the 90th percentile of the population from 70 to 72 inches of height. Even if you are not in that group, Garmin designed the G1000 displays so that they will be perfectly visible even in daylight from just about any angle of view from the front seats of an aircraft. The G1000 displays are also centered on the panel in order to give the right-seat occupant an equal view of the information being displayed.

The backup instruments - attitude indicator, altimeter and airspeed - were moved from the bottom of the panel in the Avidyne installation to the top of the panel. The reason for this change is to make it easier to transition from a system failure to the backup instruments. In addition, Diamond felt that it would be safer to have the instruments at eye level, rather than forcing the pilot to look down in order to see them.

Now, before you think that I'm putting down the Avidyne system or its installation, it should be pointed out that that installation includes two separate Garmin 430's as well as the audio panel and the transponder in the center column. Some DA-40 owners may prefer this installation because it provides the pilot with more redundancy, and also gives you the flexibility of perhaps having the Garmin CNX80 installed, rather than the 430's. There are other differences as well, the most obvious one being that the G1000 does not yet have a flight director, the Avidyne system does.

Mr. Gauch did mention that the company will continue to offer the Avidyne-equipped aircraft in order to continue to offer their customers a choice, albeit at a slightly higher cost. It will be up to the customer to decide which system best suits their mission profiles.

Continuing with the modifications, the circuit breakers have been moved to the right side and installed on a canted panel to give the pilot a better view. The instrument panel was also modified with lighted electro-luminescent overlays, and the panel eyebrow received a split panel floodlight to enhance night lighting.

The changes to the interconnection requirements allowed Diamond to use normal WEMAC eyeball style hardware to pass such items as the ethernet cabling through bulkheads. The glareshield is now padded, and an extra handle was added to the instrument panel cover.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Gauch noted that the changes in weight in the G1000-equipped aircraft will be minimal. ANN was somewhat surprised at this statement, since we had all just attended a Cessna conference that morning in which it was pointed out to us that the C182 with the G1000 system weighs some 65 lbs less than the standard C182. We asked Mr. Gauch about this disparity and he indicated that he does not know how Cessna managed that.

FMI: www.diamondair.com, www.garmin.com