Thanks, everyone! It's certainly nice to finally be able to fly my own plane!
So, the checkride report:
The insurance requirements were 25 hours of dual with 10 hours actual or simulated instrument time and 20 landings to a full stop. Well, my 8710 reported 32.4 hours, and I more than met all the other requirements. I wasn't in a rush to get the rating since I needed to pass minimums for insurance before I could fly it solo anyway.
The checkride was 4 hours total, with a fairly lengthy oral that consisted mostly of a discussion of multi engine operations, my knowledge of the aircraft, and also touching on some aspects of aircraft ownership and commercial operations. I had never met this DE before, so he wanted to go over those things some with me, even though I already had done my commercial ride in single. He did go over some things that the other DE didn't, so I appreciated the extra learning. This DE used to own about 20 Aztecs for his business, and still owns a very nice Turbo E model as his personal plane, so he was also an excellent source of information on the plane in general.
The ride was mostly like my instrument check ride, just doing it in the twin, with some engine failures. We also did the other standard twin operations - drag demo, shut down and restart an engine, etc., plus stalls, steep turns, etc.
As with all check rides, I knew all the stupid mistakes I made and was convinced I'd failed...
And then he wrote up a new temporary airman's certificate, and I had to surrender my previous one.
The plane needs some maintenance, but I'd told my instructor I wanted to get my check ride and one good solo flight in the thing done before putting it in. So after passing my check ride, I flew to CT to see some friends. The friends knew I was flying in, but I hadn't said what I was flying, so the expectation was the Mooney. It was a most pleasant surprise to them to see the Aztec. I got asked "You passed your check ride?!" "Yeah, about an hour ago." We flew north about half an hour to a very nice little airport restaurant, had dinner, then I dropped them off and headed back home. The trip back from dinner and back to Williamsport was a beautiful night flight, not unlike the first flight I had in a multi engine aircraft (which happened to be that very same plane) some year and a half ago back when I had 11 hours total time. Last night I looked out the window at the stars with the engines on either side purring away, thinking how the day - the check ride and my first flights in the plane myself - were what I'd been waiting for since I started flying.
It was an easy flight, with a somewhat interesting approach (about a 12 kt gust favoring the runway that is always the most interesting in gusty conditions) that ended up being very smooth tochdown. I shut down the engines, tidied up the plane, went home, and promptly went to sleep, most satisfied.
Now, the plane goes into maintenance, which will take care of some items that ought to be done on it, but the end result will be very nice when it's finished.
So, to answer the questions above:
1) Yes, I'm past the insurance requirements, so I can (and have) flown the plane solo. I've even had my first passengers.
2) Yes, the plane will be going to Gaston's (and 6Y9). See the ride share thread.
3) My temporary cert says "Commercial Pilot - Airplane Single & Multi Engine Land - Instrument Airplane." You can go straight to your commercial multi if you otherwise meet the requirements, which I did.
4) CFI is the next rating. That will probably be another few months, mainly depending on what else goes on. It's a busy time at work, and I need to get some significant maintenance done on the Aztec, which is a priority so I can get the thing back in the sky, where it belongs.
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