I’ve had the great fortune to log about 10 hours (and I am not done yet) flying a student’s Diamond DA40. The airplane is very cool, but the coolest thing about it is the G-1000.
I am certainly no pro with the G-1000. In fact it could be said that I don’t even know what I don’t know. 
However, with that statement in mind, I believe that I understand about 60-70% of what it does.
My very first experience with the G-1000 was a loud audible beeping noise that ended up grounding our first flight. It didn’t seem we were off to a good start. I kept telling myself, as all we were doing was local VFR flying just for the student to get the feel of the airplane again, “its got wings, and is a perfectly good airplane and we can’t fly because of a stupid computer glitch”.
The owner of the airplane, after some research, concluded that there was a database mismatch between the 2 displays. The PFD (primary flight display) and the MFD (multifunction flight display) both require a database of aviation information and the versions didn’t match. Each display has a separate GPS receiver.
After that was fixed, we finally got airborne. As a steam gauge pilot (so far), I found the PFD to be very difficult to interpret. I am used to seeing an altimeter needle, not an actual altitude readout and it seemed that the artificial horizon was way more sensitive than its steam gauge counterpart. The tendency was to porpoise a lot in an attept to chase the altitude and VSI readout, but eventually we worked it out. After 10 hours, I can more or less take or leave the PFD. I’d rather have the standard six pack. However, as I log more time in TAA (technically advanced aircraft), perhaps I will change my mind about this. Operating the G-1000 feels like trying to tie your shoes with gloves on. To tie a shoe with your hands is an easy menial task, put on the gloves and…. you get the point.
However, the MFD…..that is a little gem. And as a flight instructor, that is what I get to play with the most. I wasn’t blessed with an amazing sense of direction. It is workable, but requires I stay ahead of the airplane at all times. The MFD allows me to stay alert as to situational awareness at all times. It will actually plot an instrument approach graphically, and will show all terrain features, other traffic, etc. And the screen is HUGE compared to most of what I am used to. It would be very tough to get lost with that thing.
I am not really a computer guy. I like the valuable final product of computers and what they allow you to do. However, I don’t get any joy at all in just playing with and on a computer. That being said, it concerns me just a little bit that lives are relying upon a computer. It reminds me of “Hal”. However, thinking about any modern airliner makes me think twice about that statement.
Everytime I fly with the G-1000, I learn a bit more and am a bit more confident with it. The reality is that for an aspiring professional pilot, such as myself, this is the way that career flying will be done. Just about every modern flight deck out there is equipped with a glass cockpit. Even though my initial thoughts on the G-1000 were just so-so, stepping back three feet, I know that this is good for me as a professional pilot. Flying with this type of setup is going to be the norm for me moving forward into this industry.
Perhaps when the student’s instrument training is completed, I will be 100% fluent with the G-1000. That is my goal.