I don’t consider myself a multi-engine pilot in the sense that I would expect to need more seasoning (10-20 hours) before being genuinely comfortable in the airplane. As an example, we all know that a person can become PTS-compliant for the private certificate in a lot less than 35 or 40 hours, but the time requirement also allows the student to see stuff. To have things happen to them. It really is “experience.” The same thing applies to multi-engine flying. Although I’m a grown-up now with almost 200 hours grand total, I’d feel more confident after having gotten the rating a little moist with some more dual.

Further, this rating’s purpose is to qualify me to train for the SIC type rating in the DC-3 (now scheduled for May 23-25 in Griffin, Georgia). It’s a step on the road to the grand adventure in May.

But here’s the thing. I surprised myself a little. If the wife and kids had shown up after the checkride and asked me to put them in the Apache and go around the patch or on a short cross-country to, say, Traverse City, I would have felt capable of doing that. Even more so than in a single. (I really like the idea of an extra engine.) Bear in mind that the winds were more or less 090 (good for both KCAD (07-25) and KTVC (10-28)) with few at 12,000 and 8+ SM visibility and minor convective activity.

Would I launch IFR (even though I got cleared during the checkride with no VFR limitation)? Hell, no! I presently won’t launch IFR single pilot in a single (just a personal limitation based on proficiency). And I don’t think I’d launch IFR in IMC without good VMC nearby in the Apache without about 10 more failed-engine approaches by which to judge my proficiency.

Is that helpful? Is it even responsive? I guess it is. Long story short, I would have felt competent to take the wife and kids up right after the checkride – within limits.

It all really comes down to how much prep you do. Flight training is about bandwidth packing. Remember your first flight under the hood? It took about 90% of your available bandwidth just to fly straight and level. Try to tune a radio, and the instructor is grabbing for the controls and cursing. But it gets better until you can pack all normal operations into about 80% of your available bandwidth.

If you show up with all of the book learning internalized enough so that all of your bandwidth is available for the sights, sounds, and kinesthetic sensations of the actual multi-engine flying that you’re learing, it wouldn’t surprise me to find you feeling pretty confident after an accelerated course.

…and thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us!

One question which may be worthy of discussion…

Obviously the point of the weekend was to get you capable of passing the checkride.

…but as a gut check, how do you feel? Would you be confident taking the family up in the Apache? Would you have the confidence to pack up the spouse / 2 kids into a twin and fly back home if the opportunity had presented itself?

I only ask, because I find myself debating the accelerated vs. organic training paths myself as I consider IFR / COM / MEL / CFI tickets (hopefully!) in my future.