Passed Commercial Multi Addon

westonw

Well-Known Member
Less of an announcement and more so just to get it archived because I know I was looking for gouges for this ride and definitely had a harder time finding them than for any of the other 3 rides I've taken (PPL, IR, CSEL). Easily the quickest and most painless ride I've had to date. Did all my training in a BE76 Duchess. Started all my training earlier in the summer and got about 8 hours and was ready for the ride but was pushed back several months due to mx and DPE back ups in the region. Did 6 more hours the week before the checkride to get back up to speed.

Oral:
Began at 10:00
Define VMC. (Book definition)
What are some factors that affect VMC (didn't really have to to into detail on what happened when they changed, just listed a few (CoG, weight, bank, density alt, etc.))
What's a critical engine? (Book definition)
What makes a critical engine critical? (PAST)
Is there a way to tell where VMC is on your ASI? (Red line)
What does the blue line signify on your ASI? (Vx/yse)
What's your immediate response when an engine fails? (Power up, clean up, identify, verify, rectify)
If you lose an engine in flight is it an emergency? (Not technically, but should be treated on one depending on the situation and you can always declare. Basically just talked my way through that one. He was looking for ADM here.)
Define absolute ceiling. (Density altitude where with both engines operating it is impossible to maintain a positive rate of climb. Vx and Vy are equal here.)
Can you legally takeoff from an airport whose density altitude is higher than your single engine service ceiling? (Yes, under part 91)
How manly fuel tanks does your plane have? (Two)
Does your plane have crossfeeds? How do they work? (Yes, fuel from the left tank can feed directly into the right engine and vis versa. Can not crossfeed into the opposite tank. When you want to have the left tank feed the right engine turn the left fuel selector to off and the right one to crossfeed. Only to be used in emergency situations.)
Explain the flap system. (Slotted flaps, driven by an electronic motor. Switch has 3 positions, Up, Off, and Down. The motor will continuously run until the switch is put in the off position, or when the flaps are fully extended or retracted if the switch is left in the Down/Up position.)
What kind of engines does your plane have? (Two Lycoming O360s rated for 180hp at 2700 RPM with counter rotating 76" propellers.)S
What's the difference in a single engine precision approach and a single engine non-precision approach? (Wasn't really sure what the answer was here so I just said that on an non precision approach your minimums would generally be higher so I would try to use a precision approach if at all possible, even if it meant diverting because I'd be more likely to break out before minimums. He said I was on the right track and asked me when I put the gear down. I said I put gear down and 1st notch of flaps at the FAF assuming I'm getting good performance. He said that's not wrong but it might be a better idea to consider to wait until you have the runway made on a non-precision approach to put the gear down in case you don't break out in time and have to figure something out.)
That finished up the oral portion. I texted my instructor at 10:45 saying I passed the oral. Feel like I spent more time writing this up than I did on the actual oral. He got most everything straight from the ASA multi engine oral exam guide (as in he'd ask a question, flip a few pages, ask another, flip a few pages, another until he got to the end.) Fortunately I read it cover to cover several times in the days prior. He didn't go too deep into any of the questions and was satisfied with short sweet and to the point answers.

Flight:
Taxi out, takeoff briefing, etc.
Normal takeoff. He hit the brakes to simulate an engine failure. Idled throttles and he told me to continue the takeoff.
Climb to 5,500' and head to a practice area.
Steep turns.
Slow flight (clean and dirty.)
Power on/off stalls.
VMC demo.
Covered the throttle quadrant with his iPad and "killed" an engine a few times and had me identify which one based on instruments and yaw.
Engine shutdown/feather/restart.
Set up for an ILS at a nearby uncontrolled airport. He vectored me in and killed an engine about 5mi before the FAF. Noticed the CDI wasn't moving as I got close to intercept at the FAF so I tried to identify the LOC on the Nav radio (should have done it sooner, I know) and it wasn't transmitting. Determined the ILS was inop and he had me change to the RNAV approach for the same runway, pretty much at the FAF at this point. Quickly changed the approach on the 430 and pulled up the plate on Foreflight. "Broke out" 200' above mins and landed.
Taxi back
Holding short told me to prep for an ILS into the airport we started at. Loaded it in the 430 and pulled up the chart on Foreflight.
Flew about 30mi back, nothing special just under the hood and briefed the appraoch.
Intercepted the ILS at the FAF and simulated killing an engine. Broke out at mins and landed.
Taxied back to the hangar and that was it. Total time 1.2.

IACRA took forever to get through but I was on my home with the temp in hand by 1:30pm. Overall it was a very quick and painless ride. Examiner was great and didn't try to trip me up or stress me out over anything, just wanted to make sure I knew stuff and could fly the plane at a level I should be able to safely given the amount of time I have in it. I'll definitely be using him for future checkrides if possible (just have my CFI rides left). Now on to the MEI!
 
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