TMetzinger
Final Approach
We just got a new DA40XLS on the line here, and I've spent the morning going over the manual changes (increased gross weight affects W&B and various speeds like Va), and the supplement for the GFC700 strikes me as odd.
In an "old" G1000/KAP140 (or non G1000) model, the avionics master stays off before starting. Once the engine is running, you then turn on the Avionics master, and that will start the G1000 MFD and also start the KAP140 self test. Turning on the avionics master occurs later in the flow in the "before taxi" section, after the alternator is on.
In the GFC700 supplement, it calls for turning on the avionics master and letting the GFC700 self test before engine start, but it doesn't say WHERE in the "Before start" sequence this happens and it doesn't say to turn the avionics master back off. There's no mod to the "before taxi" section, so it seems to me that since "before taxi" says to turn it on, it should have been turned off earlier.
If anyone has gone through Diamond XLS standardization training from Diamond (not your local CFI), I'd appreciate your input on the sequence of events.
I'm inclined to have my checklist do the autopilot self test in the "before taxi" section, since it happens automatically when the avionics master is turned on. But I'm wondering if there's a reason the test should be performed before engine start. It is not normally performed before start in the Cessnas with the GFC700.
"Back in the old days" we left the radio master off because we didn't want to subject that stuff to the electrical deviations associated with the start and the alternator coming on line. However, a fair amount of the G1000 system is directly on the essential bus off of the battery, so perhaps there is sufficient electrical protection to not worry about this anymore.
In an "old" G1000/KAP140 (or non G1000) model, the avionics master stays off before starting. Once the engine is running, you then turn on the Avionics master, and that will start the G1000 MFD and also start the KAP140 self test. Turning on the avionics master occurs later in the flow in the "before taxi" section, after the alternator is on.
In the GFC700 supplement, it calls for turning on the avionics master and letting the GFC700 self test before engine start, but it doesn't say WHERE in the "Before start" sequence this happens and it doesn't say to turn the avionics master back off. There's no mod to the "before taxi" section, so it seems to me that since "before taxi" says to turn it on, it should have been turned off earlier.
If anyone has gone through Diamond XLS standardization training from Diamond (not your local CFI), I'd appreciate your input on the sequence of events.
I'm inclined to have my checklist do the autopilot self test in the "before taxi" section, since it happens automatically when the avionics master is turned on. But I'm wondering if there's a reason the test should be performed before engine start. It is not normally performed before start in the Cessnas with the GFC700.
"Back in the old days" we left the radio master off because we didn't want to subject that stuff to the electrical deviations associated with the start and the alternator coming on line. However, a fair amount of the G1000 system is directly on the essential bus off of the battery, so perhaps there is sufficient electrical protection to not worry about this anymore.