Just a general FYI that as my second official mission after returning to the states (My wife was number 1) I started my PMEL last night with 1.4 in the books. This is just the first 1.4 towards my PMEL, CMEL and my instructor ratings but it is a start.
I have alloted for 6 hours per week until my end of contract in April to try to get it all done, I have a great plane and what i think is a good instructor so it should be a great time.
I flew the duchess and had a good time and really loved the power and the handling, it was a big change over my favorite bird, the citabria. It was surprisingly alot more stable and easy to handle than i thought and i dont think it will give me too many problems, my steep turns and other maneuvers felt smooth and the plane pretty much did everything I wanted it to do. We only did one "intro" engine out and i found out by what they meant "dead foot, dead engine" it was dead as a doornail to the extent of my good engine rudder requiring like 80lbs of pressure. I wont bore you all with the details of every flight since you have all been there and done that years ago, i just wanted to share my excitement.
I bought the oral test prep guide and the jeppesen multi engine pilot manual book to get me through the checkride, any other suggestions?
I am flying using VA benefits so I am lucky to be able to spend over 100 hours in this plane with about half of that being solo, it is garmin 430 equipped and has a electronic digital HSI/PFD/MFD with a nice lcd readout, it is nicely equipped, unfortunately the autopilot is inop
It would have been nice to shoot an ILS with the 430 and the autopilot
as always, any tips, hints, or tricks to help me out are greatly appreciate from all of you, you are a wise bunch and I value your oppinions!