Where are you based, and do you have a hangar?
If it isn’t installed by default, the first thing I would mount is electric engine heater and battery charger to plug into the mains. Preferably connected to an app on the pone.
Air Conditioning: Living and flying mostly in Scandinavia I would not do it, especially when it’s 41 kg that you are are dragging along. I flew my DA42 mostly in Spain, did not have airco and rarely missed it. If you plan to travel in Southern countries you’d spend most of your time in the Flight Levels anyway, no need at these altitudes.Another detail that the Diamond people may not have told you is that it shaves off a bit of the headroom in the back. For me it was the difference of hitting the ceiling and to be clear of it. I know that you may not need that room know, but things may change. Before you know it, many Vikings will be volunteering for a back seat ;)
Rudder pedals: I elected to leave them off, as I did not see the need as the only pilot. The saving on weight was some 2 kg IIRC, so was not a factor. I think that keeping things simple often works best. The manual adjustment works just fine, much like the seat adjustment is a car.
Definitely go for TAS. Avidyne or Garmin or Lynx (threads here on all of these). Best 13k I ever spent on my plane. Obviously I can’t say it has saved my life but it saved me getting very close to somebody. Usually somebody who pretended on the radio to be somewhere else. Almost nobody in Europe is radiating certified ADS-B OUT (the sort which a panel mounted ADS-B IN device will display – many previous threads here too) but transponders are used pretty widely, particularly by the part of GA flying above ~2000ft. In the context of a DA42 cost, it is about 1.5%.
Definitely go for DME. It is really useful for instrument approaches and for generally knowing or reporting the distance to somewhere. In the context of a DA42 cost, it is about 1%.
Plenty of previous threads on oxygen, and oxygen generators. Get a fitted system if you can get it; it is neater. But the Mountain High kit is no issue either.
Aircon has a very mixed history in piston GA. When it works it is great and the rest of the time people tend to not bother getting it fixed. Like the one in my 1988 Toyota 
But maybe the Diamond system works? 41kg is a LOT; it is enough to transform your 3-seat plane (1 seat used up for a life raft etc) into a 2-seat one.
sedatedokc wrote:
In the US it’s very rare to ever encounter a target that is transponder equipped, but doesn’t have ADS-B Out installed
The USA have an ADS-B mandate for small planes. Europe does not, so small planes are often not ADS-B Out equipped.
loco wrote:
GSR56 also gives you lightning strike, so it may be an excuse not to go for the storm scope. I had both in the TBM and always chose to display Garmin Connext strikes. They’re delayed but more accurate.
There was something like the satellite strike data (Garmin Connext or Golze ADL or blitzortung or …) show only ground strikes, but a StormScope also shows lightning strikes between/within a cloud. I’m not sure how much this is worth or not.
sedatedokc wrote:
In particular I would prefer an oxygen concentrator like INOGEN.
I use one, for cabin altitudes below FL150 (underground rumours say they work above, I never tried). I agree, they are convenient. I got standard DC electric connections for them installed in the plane, so I don’t have to muck with “cigar lighter connection” in the legs, and also the cigar lighter connection (and/or the cigar-to-Inogen transformer) was a bit too weak. For fixed installation in the plane there is also http://oxyfly.com/, I have no experience with it.
The US is mandatory ADS-B OUT but only in mandatory transponder zones.
In Europe, nearly all ADS-B traffic visible as described above will be radiating via Mode C/S anyway. In fact I believe the only exception is the Skyecho 2 and legal only in the UK, so basically irrelevant. So a TAS box will see all that traffic. I am planning to upgrade my TAS605 to a TAS605A but I am not expecting to see any meaningful quantity of new traffic, anywhere in Europe.
I recommend the search box for oxygen generators There is one which will work at high altitudes, intended apparently for paradropping work, but it is a large item. They also draw quite a lot of current.
Restricting yourself to FL100 is pretty well useless for IFR in Europe. Of course it will work in some countries in terms of airspace and ATC services (Sweden is usually mentioned at this point) but the weather doesn’t know borders. The name of the game in flying is VMC on top.
A stomscope is definitely worth having. It isn’t accurate for distance, it isn’t very accurate for azimuth (although it isn’t bad) but if it is showing a bunch of strikes, you definitely don’t want to go there. Well, not in any plane made of plastic
Most definitely a YES an on the O2 system. If you can avoid messing around with portable systems, do it. You really don’t want to limit yourself to sub 10 or 12k ft.
I’d also say YES on the removable RHS stick. I personally find the center stick pretty uncomfortable even when flying, for a pax it’s even worse.
sedatedokc wrote:
Hi! I am looking to order a new DA42-VI
Just a second thought on that. For the estimated 1 million you have quite some pre owned options. For example you could buy a nice pre owned Piper Meridian and still have a big chunk of cash left to run it. That would give you pressurization, 260kt TAS, FL300, a heating system which works in -50C, a stair for the passengers instead of crawling over the wing and more. There are good reasons to choose a brand new DA42 but before spendig such an amount I would try to make sure this is really the best option for your mission.
Peter wrote:
In fact I believe the only exception is the Skyecho 2 and legal only in the UK
I talked to a guy this afternoon. He has a Skyecho in his Lancair. He can see all Mode-S on it, connected to SkyDemon (I think). He has it on the wind shield. Definitely not illegal here in Norway, and it’s not a panel mount. It also has FLARM in (out?) so he can see all the gliders as well.
Reminds mo of another thing. I would recommend a flight with an instructor to get familiar with radio procedures here. Nothing special, but it’s much more pleasant to know up front how things are expected to work. It’s things like we always stay in contact with Polaris/approach when possible and so on. Procedures on TIA/TIZ etc.
He has a Skyecho in his Lancair. He can see all Mode-S on it, connected to SkyDemon (I think). He has it on the wind shield.
He can see only distance and relative altitude, to transponding targets, not a bearing.
The legality (which I am sure nobody is going to care about anyway) of the Skyecho 2 thing is to do with the transmission from it, to achieve SIL=1. Many previous threads – example – on this topic, which goes round and round
An active TAS box shows distance, rel. altitude and bearing for the lowest common denominator in GA: transponders. Plus it will merge that data with any “certified” (basically SIL=1) ADS-B data emitted by the same target and then you get extra accuracy (especially on the bearing). The only real drawback is the cost – generally over 10k. But for a plane in this price bracket, it is an absolute no-brainer.
One could have a valid debate about whether to install an ADF
ADF is an invaluable piece of equipment :-)
