12/6/07 Fourth Multiengine Lesson - I booked an extra-long block of time with Woody today for another multiengine lesson. I did steep turns, approach & departure stalls, slow flight, Vmc demos, engine-out work, an aborted takeoff (sim engine failure), and short-field takeoffs and landings. I'm doing a little better now but still don't feel like I know the steps to all the procedures. I got a lot of practice, though, logging a total of 1.9 hours. My arm was about ready to fall off after all that work.

12/14/07 Fifth Multiengine Lesson - I've been reviewing my Seminole checklist and studying hard past week. I continued to fine-tune my maneuvers today flying with Greg. He caught me totally off-guard with a simulated engine failure when I least expected it. Aside from the usual engine failure practice, I practiced maneuvers, did a couple takeoffs and landings, and flew an ILS approach coupled with the autopilot. Today's lesson was 1.3 hours.

12/15/07 Sixth Multiengine Lesson - The weather deteriorated rapidly as I taxied out for today's lesson in the Seminole. Woody had flown in VFR conditions just an hour earlier, and now the snow was coming down and visibility was dropping. While we were taxiing out, ground control advised me that the visibility was 2-1/2 miles and the airport was now IFR. Woody suggested we stay in the pattern for some landings. I had to request a new clearance including the magic words of "special VFR," and we were cleared to stay in the pattern. I did three short-field takeoffs and landings before we called it quits after 0.7 hours, some of which was spent on the ground waiting for an airliner to land. It was snowing hard enough to coat the runways and taxiways with powdery snow. I was the only one using runway 6, so I could see the clear path where my propellers had blown the snow away. That was a handy way to tell how much room I was using and whether I was tracking straight lines!

12/16/07 Seventh Multiengine Lesson - I flew two lessons with students in the 172 on this windy, bumpy day before taking a lesson in the Seminole. Today I flew it 1.3 hours and almost all of that was simulated instrument flight. I did a hold at the Green Bay VOR, flew a single-engine VOR-A approach followed by a circle-to-land maneuver, and flew two ILS approaches, one of them single-engine. The single-engine approaches were a bit tricky, but what's nice is that when you reduce power to descend, a lot of the need for rudder goes away.

12/19/07 Eighth Multiengine Lesson - Today I worked on the VFR multiengine maneuvers and single-engine work. It was finally warm enough outside to actually shut down one of the Seminole's engines during my lesson. This time the "feather" part of the checklist was real and not simulated! It was very strange looking out to see the propeller standing still. It was amazing how much more drag was reduced compared to simulating feather. After an air restart it was back to the airport for an ILS approach and a couple landings. 1.6 in the logbook.

12/27/07 Exercising the Arrow - The Arrow at Brennand Airport sits outside because there's nowhere else to put it, and it has been snowed on quite a bit. We are already getting a lot of snow this year. The airport manager has plowed around the plane, causing even more snow to be piled up around it. I was determined to fly the plane today since the sun was melting the snow off the wings. After a flight lesson, I spent about half an hour shoveling a trail for the plane. I got help reinstalling its battery that had been sitting on the bench. The plane had not been started in at least two months, but I got it going, and took it up for about a half hour of fun. It was bittersweet though, since the plane's annual inspection will expire at the end of the month and I know it won't be renewed until we thaw out in spring.

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