DA40 PLT RECOUNTS HOW LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH GPS AVIONICS RESULTED IN A TRACK DEVIATION.

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THE ACFT I WAS FLYING IS EQUIPPED WITH A GARMIN G1000. I HAD ABOUT 12 HRS OF G1000 EXPERIENCE UP TO THIS FLT. I FILED AN IFR FLT PLAN DUE TO PROBABLE IFR CONDITIONS ENRTE AND AT MY DEST. DEPARTING DNN (DALTON; GA) IFR I WAS CLRED DIRECT NELLO INTXN. I SELECTED DIRECT NELLO ON THE GPS. WITHIN ABOUT 8 MI OF NELLO I ATTEMPTED TO LOAD IN THE REST OF THE FLT PLAN SO THAT THE GPS/AUTOPLT WOULD CONTINUE TO NAV ALONG THE FILED RTE OF FLT. AFTER NELLO THE NEXT LEG OF MY FLT PLAN WAS ALONG V415. AS I APCHED NELLO I INADVERTENTLY DELETED THE NELLO WAYPOINT FROM THE FLT PLAN AND LOADED DIRECT TO ODF VOR; THE NEXT WAYPOINT DEFINING V415. AT THIS POINT I RATIONALIZED I WAS VERY NEAR OR OVER NELLO SO I TURNED TOWARD ODF. AFTER I MADE MY TURN TOWARD ODF ZTL ADVISED ME THAT NELLO WAS 5 MI TO MY S AND GAVE ME A HDG TO JOIN V415. AS I APCHED V415 I MANAGED TO LOCATE THE AIRWAYS PAGE ON THE MULTI-FUNCTION DISPLAY SO THAT I COULD TELL WHEN I HAD JOINED V415. UPON JOINING V415 I ENTERED DIRECT ODF. CTR CONFIRMED I WAS ON COURSE. OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL MINS I WAS SUCCESSFUL IN LOADING THE REMAINDER OF THE FLT PLAN (WITH HELP FROM THE GARMIN G1000 MANUAL KEPT IN THE AIRPLANE). DUE TO MY INEXPERIENCE WITH THE G1000; PARTICULARLY IN THE IFR ENVIRONMENT; I FAILED TO NAV TO NELLO FOR WHICH I WAS CLRED. THIS RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT DEV FROM MY IFR CLRNC. I COMPLETED THE REST OF THE FLT WITHOUT INCIDENT. WHILE PROFICIENT AND EXPERIENCED WITH IFR OPS; THIS EXPERIENCE TAUGHT ME THAT I NEEDED TO HAVE A HIGHER LEVEL OF PROFICIENCY OPERATING NEW AND UNFAMILIAR AVIONICS. PRIOR TO MY NEXT IFR FLT I HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE G1000 MANUAL; READING BOOKS ON OPERATING THE G1000 IN THE IFR ENVIRONMENT; AND UTILIZING THE COMPUTER BASED G1000 SIMULATOR AVAILABLE FROM GARMIN. IN ADDITION; I'M IN THE PROCESS OF COMPLETING A PERSONAL G1000 NAV AND AUTOPLT CHKLIST FOR THE DEP; CLB; ENRTE; DSCNT; AND APCH LEGS. THIS CHKLIST INCLUDES PROCS TO LOAD THE FLT PLAN PRIOR TO TKOF; CHANGE THE FLT PLAN ENRTE; AND SET UP THE APPROPRIATE APCH.