Multi-Engine Before Commercial?

My original plan was to finish the instrument rating and then do some
additional aerobatic training and a tailwheel endorsement before
starting the commercial. But for some reason, as I approach the end of
the instrument training, I've had an interest in doing the multi. I
know that I wouldn't be able to rent due to insurance, nor do I know
if I'd really want to given the small number of hours I'd have by the
time I completed it. It would be one more opportunity to increase my
knowledge and skills. And maybe I'd get asked to ride along with a few
pilots I know that are rated.

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?

Dave

The commercial will make you a better pilot and is a lot of fun too.. Since
you won't be able to get a multi to fly, I don't see how getting the rating
will improve your skill in a way that affects your (single engine) flying.
The multi rating is all about single engine flying, nothing else.

Mike
\MU-2


"David B. Cole" wrote in message
m...
My original plan was to finish the instrument rating and then do some
additional aerobatic training and a tailwheel endorsement before
starting the commercial. But for some reason, as I approach the end of
the instrument training, I've had an interest in doing the multi. I
know that I wouldn't be able to rent due to insurance, nor do I know
if I'd really want to given the small number of hours I'd have by the
time I completed it. It would be one more opportunity to increase my
knowledge and skills. And maybe I'd get asked to ride along with a few
pilots I know that are rated.

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?

Dave

In article ,
David B. Cole wrote:
But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm

A multi is a complex airplane, so it can count for some of the training
you'll need for the (single engine) commercial.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Hi David!,
From your post I reckon you are not planning a career in flying multis with
ATP. Career pilot's usually get inst.,multi.,commercial all at the same
time.
It is a lot easier to get the rating than to rent in my experience,citing
insurance requirements. Mike and Ben made good points.
I'll add that if you can afford the extra bucks,at least get some dual in a
multi. It will make your ins.agent grin,add to your proficiency level and
put a big friggin smile on your face each time you look at the log book
entries.
The only multi dual I have is in a Citation V,a 30 min.flight. You bet, I
was pretty much behind the sucker from the brake release,but it looks real
good in the logbook and the memory is even better.
Just a thought,
Marty

"David B. Cole" wrote in message
m...
My original plan was to finish the instrument rating and then do some
additional aerobatic training and a tailwheel endorsement before
starting the commercial. But for some reason, as I approach the end of
the instrument training, I've had an interest in doing the multi. I
know that I wouldn't be able to rent due to insurance, nor do I know
if I'd really want to given the small number of hours I'd have by the
time I completed it. It would be one more opportunity to increase my
knowledge and skills. And maybe I'd get asked to ride along with a few
pilots I know that are rated.

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?

Dave

(David B. Cole) writes:

My original plan was to finish the instrument rating and then do some
additional aerobatic training and a tailwheel endorsement before
starting the commercial. But for some reason, as I approach the end of
the instrument training, I've had an interest in doing the multi.

My interest was that I wanted to be able to fly my plane. I
did my MEL before my Instrument (and didn't get signed off for
multi-instrument for quite awhile).

I know that I wouldn't be able to rent due to insurance,

Are you sure? Where I trained, rental was available to pilots
after completing their multi training with that FBO.

nor do I know
if I'd really want to given the small number of hours I'd have by the
time I completed it. It would be one more opportunity to increase my
knowledge and skills.

'seems worthwhile.

And maybe I'd get asked to ride along with a few
pilots I know that are rated.

MEL safety pilots are handy to have available.

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?

I have no idea how it fits with your goals but I still don't
have my Commercial. I don't miss it. (However there are some
guys flying checks in Aztecs from here and that *does* sound
interesting...)

--kyler

David... it actually makes more sense to get your SE Commercial First.. then
get the Multi... all of your Cross Country and specific training
requirements for the Commercial can be done in the SE. There is an
additional 10hrs of Instrument work required for the Comm, but you can do 5
hours in SE and 5 hours in ME and make it all count. Then when you go for
the ME, you've got all your Commercial requirements complete and it's an
easier go of it.

On the other side, most places where you can get a ME to rent, require
20hours in type (or more) and Comm/Instrument ratings, so again it makes
sense to get the SE Comm first, and get the 5hours Instrument in the ME, and
then go back to that rental opportunity to complete the ME and make sure to
get Comm. and Instrument privileges in the ME.

BT

"David B. Cole" wrote in message
m...
My original plan was to finish the instrument rating and then do some
additional aerobatic training and a tailwheel endorsement before
starting the commercial. But for some reason, as I approach the end of
the instrument training, I've had an interest in doing the multi. I
know that I wouldn't be able to rent due to insurance, nor do I know
if I'd really want to given the small number of hours I'd have by the
time I completed it. It would be one more opportunity to increase my
knowledge and skills. And maybe I'd get asked to ride along with a few
pilots I know that are rated.

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?

Dave

You'll want to do the single commercial first because that will count
towards a lot of your requirements. Once you have your single
commerical all you need to do is a multi add on. You do not need to
meet the multi commercial requirements (just the add on requirements
of the commerical PTS). You'll save yourself a lot of money since a
SEL commercial only requires a few hours of complex (and that complex
is a lot cheaper than a twin).

-Robert, CFI


(David B. Cole) wrote in message om...
My original plan was to finish the instrument rating and then do some
additional aerobatic training and a tailwheel endorsement before
starting the commercial. But for some reason, as I approach the end of
the instrument training, I've had an interest in doing the multi. I
know that I wouldn't be able to rent due to insurance, nor do I know
if I'd really want to given the small number of hours I'd have by the
time I completed it. It would be one more opportunity to increase my
knowledge and skills. And maybe I'd get asked to ride along with a few
pilots I know that are rated.

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?

Dave

"David B. Cole" wrote in message
m...

But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm, and would I
receive more benefit from following my original plan?


It makes more sense to do the multi then do the commercial in the multi
engine. The guys who say that you can do the cross countries in the single
and then do a multi add-on are only half right. Much of the cross country in
a single must be solo, but you can do it dual in a multi-engine, thus
meeting the requirements for dual training at the same time as the cross
country, cutting the total hours considerably. At your point, I would
recommend the multi-engine private and get the multi-engine instrument at
the same time -- you only have to add a couple of approaches to the check
ride. Then do all the commercial training in a multi-engine plane; it serves
as a complex airplane. Then go back and do the single-engine add-on. All you
have to do then is the single-engine maneuvers, no cross country and no
complex training.

(Ben Jackson) wrote in message news:4sZec.130808$K91.344330@attbi_s02...
In article ,
David B. Cole wrote:
But does it make sense to do the multi before the Comm

A multi is a complex airplane, so it can count for some of the training
you'll need for the (single engine) commercial.

better yet, you can do the initial commercial in a multi- and the
commercial single as an add-on; that's what I did actually for a number
of complicated reasons (one of them being that it didn't require any
solo night time)... but essentially I do have access to a couple
of nice twins that can be flown solo, rare, but still exists; and since
I was going for a multi- rating anyway, I thought that there wasn't that
much difference in requirements between adding it to my private certificate
versus going for the commercial rating directly; the fun side effect to
doing the single commercial as an add-on was that I was able to do it in
a non complex aircraft (how many people do you know who did their
commercial recently in a tailwheel? :-)

--Sylvain

"C J Campbell" wrote:
Then do all the commercial training in a multi-engine plane; it serves
as a complex airplane.

Not all multi's are complex (nor are they all high-performance).
Granted, you need to look hard to find one that isn't, but it's
possible. It would be embarrassing to show up for a checkride and have
the examiner tell you the airplane you brought doesn't qualify.