On Sep 4, 8:53*pm, gpick wrote:
Hello again. I met with my flight instructor today just to get some
information. Now it's time to schedule a flight. The ideal plane for me
would be the 09 DA40 with the G1000, but it is $35 more per hour more
than either the 03 DA40 or 07 172. Therefore, I am flying the two latter
planes and deciding which will be better for me. There are both the same
price per hour.

2003 Diamond DA40 with: IFR/VFR Garmin 530W WAAS-certified
GPS/NAV/COMGarmin 430 GPS/NAV/COMBendix/King KCS 55A Slaved
HSIBendix/King KAP 140 Dual-Axis AutopilotGarmin GTX 327 Digital
TransponderGarmin GMA 340 Audio PanelXM Weather Datalink (AKA: NOT
GLASS)

2007 Cessna 172 with: IFR/VFR
Garmin 1000 Integrated Avionics System
Bendix King KAP 140 Dual-Axis Autopilot
XM Weather Datalink (AKA: Glass)

The reason for the choice here is the famous high vs. low wing debate.
Also, the diamond tops out 10 knots faster. Any suggestions or opinions
as to which I should go with? Again, I will be flying both to decide
eventually. Is glass going to be more prevalent down the road and more
expensive to transition then, rather than start with it now?

--
gpick

My observation is most general aviation careers, with the exception of
instructing and A&E, involve low winged airplanes. Never the less,
transitions from one to the other is simply not a big deal, so choose
what you like for primary training. Ground effect is more pronounced
in low wing.

You'll probably have to learn to fly behind conventional as well as
glass instrumentation, start with the less costly. The money ($35 an
hour?) you'll save before you move to glass will be more than the cost
of learning glass later when you move on to your instrument rating.
Keep things simple during primary training.