Single Comm OR Multi Comm?

PLANECOOK

PLANECOOK

Well-Known Member
I was wondering if a CFI could give me some real advice of whether I should get the commercial multi or get the single engine commercial and then get the add-on for the multi. I will not need a single engine commercial for the company I plan to work for so I was wondering the advantages and disadvantages other than cost of doing the multi-engine commercial instead of the single comm. Someone told me you dont do the single-engine comm manuevers for the multi-comm, is this true? Also, just give me any feedback you can on getting the multi-comm you might have.

I have 210TT 120PIC AND and IR rating!

Thanks!
 
I've advised a few of my students with aspirations to fly professionally to do their initial commercial in a multi.

Multi-engine time is golden when it comes to getting a job, so the sooner you can start building it the better.

The incremental expense isn't that great over the long run (depends on how much your twin costs vs. what you're paying for a single of course) and the additional multi-time may get you a job sooner.

In one case, one of my students was paying $125/hr for a 172 at a flight school I do some work for. A twin at a different school was renting for $160/hr. At $35/hr difference it made perfect sense for him to get his multi-comm-instrument instead of the single-engine commercial given his goals.

All that being said, without any complex/high-performance experience learning a twin and doing your initial commercial in it will take more time than if you did it later on, with the SE commercial first.

Of course, you'll need to get the multi time anyway so if you can swing it financially and it fits with your long-term goals I'd say go for it.

Another option might be to do your private multi then do the commercial later as an add-on, but if you're going to need the commercial anyway, might as well do the whole thing in a twin.

Hope that helps. Looking back, I do wish I'd done my multi sooner rather than later. (Of course, doing it after doing a bunch of instructing and flying nearly every day for a year made it much easier than if I'd tried to do it at 300 hours.)

Good luck!

Will
 
I have been wondering the same thing, I have decided to do my Multi first. Even with the price $250 multi vs. $100 single, Should make the single comm add on easyer too. :nana2:
 
The big difference is how much of the 61.129(a) requirements have you already satisified in the 210TT you currently have? Chances are that you'll only need 10 hrs of complex instruction (where you'll learn to do the commercial maneuvers, and a day/night 100nm cross-country) and a 300nm solo cross-country.

If you take the multi-engine route as your initial commercial rating, you will have to satisfy all of 61.129(b). (At a minimum, that's 10 hrs of instruction and 10 hrs of "solo") If you do it as an add-on then you have to satisfy the requirements of the PTS. Most pilots can get an add-on ratings for 10-12 hrs, although you can certainly find places that advertise a package deal for less flight time.

Many acadamies give you a commercial multi-engine initial rating because they want to maximize ME time. If that's your goal, then this is a good reason to get a ME rating as your initial commercial.

Either way, I would recommend you don't get a private ME add-on if you're going to get a commercial rating. You can get a ASEL commercial rating, and add-on a ME rating to it at the commercial level as your first ME rating if you want to minimize expense. You can also get a ME initial commercial and add-on a ASEL (if you need it).

Unless you have a good reason to justify the expense of taking another checkride at the private level just to add a MEL to your private certificate, or checkrides are your hobby, just skip it and make whatever commercial ME route you pick your first ME rating. (I got a ME add-on to my private because I got some bad advice from my CFI. It was $ I didn't need to give the DE because I ended up taking a commercial ME add-on. I could have done it all with that one ride.)

When I was working on my CPL, I did my 10 hrs of complex training in a twin. You can even use it for the complex proficiency part of the check ride if the examiner agrees to be the PIC. My CFI told me I couldn't do that (although I later found out from the FAA that I could have), so I spent about 1.5 hrs in an Arrow in the traffic pattern and used it for the test to do one touch & go and one full stop. I did the rest of the test in my own Yankee. The Arrow was $110 an hour and the twin was $170 (years ago) and I really didn't need 10 hrs of instruction in the Arrow since I was going to do the test in my own plane. I had flown Warriors before, so the transition to the Arrow was simple. There were just 2 more levers to worry about and an RPM gauge that didn't work like a Warrior's. But I learned all about props & landing gear in the ~15 hrs I spent learning to fly the twin as a private pilot.

Rob
 
Go somewhere that has a very easy, fixed-gear aircraft to do the maneuvers (like a 172), and that also has a 172RG. You checkride in both airplanes; the flight in the RG is a couple of turns in the pattern. No sense in complicating the maneuvers in a faster, complex aircraft.

Add the ME rating onto that.

I never had a COMM ME rating. I took a COMM SEL checkride and the ATP MEL immediately afterward.
 
tbmpilot said:
Go somewhere that has a very easy, fixed-gear aircraft to do the maneuvers (like a 172), and that also has a 172RG. You checkride in both airplanes; the flight in the RG is a couple of turns in the pattern. No sense in complicating the maneuvers in a faster, complex aircraft.

Add the ME rating onto that.

I never had a COMM ME rating. I took a COMM SEL checkride and the ATP MEL immediately afterward.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting that you train enough to only be partially competent in a complex aircraft? This technique is 100% legal, however, I can't imagine it would impress if somebody sees that logbook entry at an interview. Also, as an instructor, I would be embarrassed to ask the examiner that I use to do this for one of my students.

I know I am new here and don't want to upset anybody... but it's just my $.02.
 
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