Newbie Question.

[JoeC]

I'm confused.. I only have about 7 hours under my belt on my way to my private. (Did I mention I was a newbie??) I'm looking into a flight school where I can get my private, instrument, commercial, multi, CFI and CFII.. My question is, if I get my commercial does it count for single and multi engine? Or are there two seperate ratings, a single engine commercial and multi engine commercial?

Also, after all of that, how much additional time is needed to get my MEI?

Lastly, is there a MEII?? or does the CFII work for that?

Sorry for all the newbie questions.. But thanks in advance!!!

Joe

 

[banned username 2]

The Commercial Single Engine Land is separate from the Commercial Multi-Engine Land... They are two separate Flight Tests and Orals...

Typically AFTER you have your CFI and a Commercial Multi Rating.... Adding an MEI takes about 5-10 hours...

If you have your CFI-I and then get an MEI, you can teach Instruments in the Twin... but you must have an MEI and a CFI-I

Hope this helps!

Good Luck and Fly Safe!

 

[norskman2]

There have been several discussions on this board about the best/fastest order for obtaining your ratings.

For instance, some people have suggested you can combine the MEI and MEL Commercial checkrides. Others have suggested getting the PPL, IFR and Comm (SEL), and then getting an MEL/IFR/Comm add-on all at the same time. The point for both ideas being to combine training wherever possible and reduce the number of checkrides.

Others on this board have suggested getting the MEL as soon as possible, and doing as training (IFR, Comm, CFI, CFII) as possible in a twin after that in order to build up ME time.

Sheesh! Who knows? Unfortunately, I can't speak from personal experience on these, but perhaps others can weigh in here.

One factor to consider - if you get hired on as an instructor, your FBO may give you a discount on rentals, making further ratings a little cheaper.

Good luck.

 

[avbug]

If you're looking to make a career out of it, don't be in too big a rush to get multi engine time. Your first job(s) aren't likely to be in a multi engine airplane; you have time to get the rating. First, concentrate on the certificates and ratings that will get you employed and flying.

There's nothing wrong with getting a multi engine rating and a little multi experience, but even if you get your certificates in a multi engine airplane, you still have a relatively insignificant amount of time...not enough total experience to go get hired. You also have a great deal more expense getting through your certification. If you have two hundred fifty hours and half, or all of it is multi engine, so what? By the time you reach the VFR minimums for 135 at 500 hours total, half your time would be in a multi airplane. However, nobody is going to hire you into a multi at 500 hours for a VFR job...concentrate on getting useable time and experience.

As you gain more experience and get closer to having a significant enough total to be considered, your percentage of multi shrinks and dwindles, somewhat reducing the value of your expensive investment.

The wonderboy years are over, with a whole generation of people working into postions of significance with little or no experience. We're getting back to reality again. I got my first multi job with only 15 hours of total multi experience, but nearly 2,000 hours total time. Two years ago this was unheard of...folks wondered why one wasn't approaching captain status at their airline by then. That's not reality, and folks who experienced that or think that way don't understand reality. Today is reality, running on the typical ten year cycle.

Don't be in too big a rush to spend the almighty dollar on things that won't help you. Certainly it's good experience and not wasted in that respect, but you can spend less and get through certification faster and with less debt in a single engine airplane. You can get employed, and then work on the multi, for far less money than trying to do your certification and ratings in the multi. Something to think about.

 

[172driver]

Good advice from all but let me try to clarify the 'typical' way ratings are earned, if there is such a thing.

Private SEL-->Instrument-->Commercial SEL-->Multi commercial add-on-->CFI-->CFII-->MEI

OR

Private MEL-->Instrument-->Multi Commercial-->Single add-on-->CFI.....

First option is cheaper and more common. Second option allows you to log your time in Commercial training as PIC time in a twin, since you are already rated in the twin.

MEI is usually between 5-15 hrs in the plane. If you did a multi add-on to your commercial rating, the only PIC time you will have is your FAA checkride. You must have 15 hrs PIC in category(airplane) and class(multi engine land) to instruct. Thus, your MEI will consist of at least 13 hrs in the twin. If you went the other route, your MEI consists of demonstrating instructional proficiency, usually about 5 hrs.

Hope this helps. Don't ever feel bad about being a newbie. We all were at one point, though some tend to forget it.