People keep asking me, "so now that you have your instrument rating, what's next?" or something to that effect. There are a couple of options at this point, but I've elected to go for multiengine add-on to my private pilot certificate. This allows the several long cross countries that are part of the commercial syllabus to be logged as PIC in a multi, generally considered good to have in your logbook.
The instructor walked me through the preflight on the Seneca I. Nothing terribly complicated there just a couple of new things to check - as well as having an additional engine to look over, this is my first retractable gear airplane. My least favorite part about Piper aircraft is the need to get into the pilot's seat by entering through the copilot's side and clambering across the copilot's seat and the center controls, but soon we were strapped in and beginning the engine(s) start procedure.
Imagine to yourself (or for that matter, to anyone around you as well) driving a mid to small sized automobile for several months and then jumping into a largish van. Now give the van wings, two engines and significantly smaller tires and not only do you have a freaky mental picture of a flying van in your head but you may also understand what it's like to go from a Cessna 172 to a Piper Seneca. The haze was pretty nasty, but I could see enough to notice that we were getting out to the practice area in short order.
We started with steep turns, I did alright but the haze gave me a crappy horizon and very few good ground reference points. My instructor encouraged me to fly to commercial standards (50 degrees of bank) right away and with that done, we proceeded to stalls.
I've never liked stalls. I understand the logic behind teaching and practicing them, but I still don't like them. Stalls in new airplanes make me nervous, and I especially remember being nervous practicing them under the hood during my instrument training. This may or may not go back to the time I inadvertantly got to practice spin recovery during some solo practice while working on my private certificate. In any case, stalls proved to be no scary thing. The Seneca is a very solid feeling, stable aircraft.
On the way back in, my ears were in constant need of a pressure equalization procedure. I've been spending a lot of time at 3,000 feet and we got to 6,500 and above. After putting my first hour of multi time in my logbook, I felt reasonably upbeat.
Later I got the news that I may not fit in the budget at my current position. Right now I'm helping out at the programming position I had before beginning this whole pilot adventure and I was really under the impression that I'd be able to stay here for at least 3 months and probably longer. Now it looks like I may be hunting down other prospects for income. Talk about a buzzkill.
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