Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
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iFlyNothing
Today marks the 10th anniversary since passing my commercial multi engine land checkride in my venerable Aztec - N6927Y. I had purchased the plane without the rating, and used it for my training and checkride. I couldn't have asked for a better first plane or multi trainer. Checkride thread:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/two-engines-are-better-then-one.28203/
There was a time when I wasn't convinced I would ever log more multi engine hours than I had single engine. Was I ever wrong on that! With now over 3,000 hours total time, I still have under 500 hours of single engine time.
All of my multi time to start was in my Aztec, a 1969 D model that I'd purchased for a very good price. The plane was /U with a VFR GPS. 10 years ago, filing /U was becoming rarer but still a thing. I think @Mtns2Skies is going to be the last person on earth to file /U. The interior had been done about 5 years prior when the man who brought it to Pennsylvania wanted a nicer interior to be flown around in. A light tan, it was a comfortable and bright cabin. The Aztec was not fast, but it was forgiving and I'm very glad that it was my first plane. I'm not sure a 310 would've survived when @tonycondon flew it through a lake. The Aztec started Cloud Nine, which also propelled my multi career. I ended up with about 900 hours in that plane.
When I had around 900 hours the 310 was donated to Cloud Nine, and became the second twin I put any significant time in. The 310 was a significantly slicker and faster airplane than the Aztec, and while I still had taken the Aztec on longer trips than I generally took the 310 on, I took the 310 on those longer trips consistently. Although I really flew the Aztec a lot in those first few years, the 310 ended up being the plane that I was caretaker of the longest (at least up until this point) at 5.5 years, and I put about the same number of hours on it as the Aztec - roughly 900.
After starting to fly the 310 I ended up starting to fly Navajos. First I borrowed one to do some Cloud Nine flying up in Canada (I'd been asked about using a plane bigger than the 310 for a few trips I did flying veterinarians and vet techs up to remote regions). That then got me into flying Navajos on corporate and 135. I ended up with a couple hundred hours in Navajos total. The Navajo remains my favorite piston cabin class twin that I've flown, mostly because of how capable the things were with short runways and bad weather, and how durable they were. The things never let me down.
Before leaving Pennsylvania I also got a few hours in Cheyennes and Commander 690s, but not that many.
After the 310, Cloud Nine upgraded to the 414 - making the first cabin class twin that I was caretaker of, and the first pressurized piston twin that I flew. We had it for 2 years and about 250 hours, it spent more time broken than flying. Although it was not a fun airplane to fly, the capabilities it had were fun being the first pressurized aircraft I put any significant time on. The altitude capability the plane had was very enjoyable, as was the fact that it was just as happy at 2,500 MSL as it was at FL190. I once flew the thing back to Kansas from New York at 2,500 ft the whole way because of headwinds, squawking 1200 the whole way. It was actually a lot of fun, something that doesn't happen anymore in the MU-2.
Towards the end of my time taking care of the 414, I ended up putting something north of 40 hours on a friend's Cheyenne saving a bunch of homeless pets in St. Croix following hurricane Maria. I had a feeling this good fortune happened for a reason. Turns out I was right.
A few months after that, the MU-2 came to Cloud Nine, and that turbine time helped a lot towards a reasonable insurance rate (and being insurable at all). The MU-2 was the first turbine that I've put any significant time on. Now at about 14 months since becoming its caretaker, I've put over 250 hours on the plane. It's a fantastic machine in all respects, but must be respected.
It's hard to say what's my favorite out of the planes I've been caretaker of or spent significant amounts of time flying. I think at this point I have to say the MU-2, but it's what I'm currently flying and it fits my current mission beautifully. Like all things in aviation, there are different aircraft with different pros and cons that fit different missions. If you have an airplane that fits your mission, it's a wonderful thing. I miss the early Aztec days in some ways, just because of the promise of what was to come, and the Aztec was the plane that I had the greatest adventures in. The 310 was a tremendously fun plane to fly, and the MU-2 is both fun and extremely capable. The Navajos I managed some significant feats and probably expanded my professional flying the most in those planes.
I'll share a few thoughts from 10 years and over 2,500 hours of twins.
1) If you're asking yourself "Should I get a multi rating?" go for it. You never know what opportunities may come from it.
2) But also understand that you need to rewire your brain for twins, and you need to stay proficient in flying twins. If you don't, Richard Collins will have been right and you will be safer in a single. Twins require proficiency and a dedication to training. If you're saying "I normally fly a single, but this trip is harder so I'm only going to be comfortable if I do it in a twin," stay on the ground. I always get concerned when I see pilots who have little to no twin experience decide that they're only willing to make a trip in bad weather if it's a twin. If you start flying twins, you need to do it regularly. If anything, it should become your primary transport, at least for a while until you gain comfort and proficiency.
3) I think Richard Collins was wrong and his article saying singles are safer than twins is one of the greatest disservices anyone has done to general aviation. In the hands of a competent and proficient pilot, a twin is safer on many accounts, not just because of engine redundancy but also because of systems redundancy that tends to go with that, the extra horsepower that helps in icing, and they handle turbulence better.
4) If you're flying a piston twin, the idea of a single-engine go-around is a joke. Don't attempt one in real life. Brief a single engine landing as "I've only got one chance to do this" and behave as such. I personally would not attempt a real single engine go around in a piston twin. Even in the MU-2, if the gear is down you're told that it just won't do it, period.
5) Understand that a twin doesn't always mean that you will be able to climb out on one or stay above ground level on one, but understand what impacts those conditions and plan accordingly to give yourself the best chance at success should an engine fail. Longer runways are better, less weight is better. Sometimes compromises have to be made on these, but "Full fuel all the time" doesn't make sense in a twin for safety purposes.
Twins are great.
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/two-engines-are-better-then-one.28203/
There was a time when I wasn't convinced I would ever log more multi engine hours than I had single engine. Was I ever wrong on that! With now over 3,000 hours total time, I still have under 500 hours of single engine time.
All of my multi time to start was in my Aztec, a 1969 D model that I'd purchased for a very good price. The plane was /U with a VFR GPS. 10 years ago, filing /U was becoming rarer but still a thing. I think @Mtns2Skies is going to be the last person on earth to file /U. The interior had been done about 5 years prior when the man who brought it to Pennsylvania wanted a nicer interior to be flown around in. A light tan, it was a comfortable and bright cabin. The Aztec was not fast, but it was forgiving and I'm very glad that it was my first plane. I'm not sure a 310 would've survived when @tonycondon flew it through a lake. The Aztec started Cloud Nine, which also propelled my multi career. I ended up with about 900 hours in that plane.
When I had around 900 hours the 310 was donated to Cloud Nine, and became the second twin I put any significant time in. The 310 was a significantly slicker and faster airplane than the Aztec, and while I still had taken the Aztec on longer trips than I generally took the 310 on, I took the 310 on those longer trips consistently. Although I really flew the Aztec a lot in those first few years, the 310 ended up being the plane that I was caretaker of the longest (at least up until this point) at 5.5 years, and I put about the same number of hours on it as the Aztec - roughly 900.
After starting to fly the 310 I ended up starting to fly Navajos. First I borrowed one to do some Cloud Nine flying up in Canada (I'd been asked about using a plane bigger than the 310 for a few trips I did flying veterinarians and vet techs up to remote regions). That then got me into flying Navajos on corporate and 135. I ended up with a couple hundred hours in Navajos total. The Navajo remains my favorite piston cabin class twin that I've flown, mostly because of how capable the things were with short runways and bad weather, and how durable they were. The things never let me down.
Before leaving Pennsylvania I also got a few hours in Cheyennes and Commander 690s, but not that many.
After the 310, Cloud Nine upgraded to the 414 - making the first cabin class twin that I was caretaker of, and the first pressurized piston twin that I flew. We had it for 2 years and about 250 hours, it spent more time broken than flying. Although it was not a fun airplane to fly, the capabilities it had were fun being the first pressurized aircraft I put any significant time on. The altitude capability the plane had was very enjoyable, as was the fact that it was just as happy at 2,500 MSL as it was at FL190. I once flew the thing back to Kansas from New York at 2,500 ft the whole way because of headwinds, squawking 1200 the whole way. It was actually a lot of fun, something that doesn't happen anymore in the MU-2.
Towards the end of my time taking care of the 414, I ended up putting something north of 40 hours on a friend's Cheyenne saving a bunch of homeless pets in St. Croix following hurricane Maria. I had a feeling this good fortune happened for a reason. Turns out I was right.
A few months after that, the MU-2 came to Cloud Nine, and that turbine time helped a lot towards a reasonable insurance rate (and being insurable at all). The MU-2 was the first turbine that I've put any significant time on. Now at about 14 months since becoming its caretaker, I've put over 250 hours on the plane. It's a fantastic machine in all respects, but must be respected.
It's hard to say what's my favorite out of the planes I've been caretaker of or spent significant amounts of time flying. I think at this point I have to say the MU-2, but it's what I'm currently flying and it fits my current mission beautifully. Like all things in aviation, there are different aircraft with different pros and cons that fit different missions. If you have an airplane that fits your mission, it's a wonderful thing. I miss the early Aztec days in some ways, just because of the promise of what was to come, and the Aztec was the plane that I had the greatest adventures in. The 310 was a tremendously fun plane to fly, and the MU-2 is both fun and extremely capable. The Navajos I managed some significant feats and probably expanded my professional flying the most in those planes.
I'll share a few thoughts from 10 years and over 2,500 hours of twins.
1) If you're asking yourself "Should I get a multi rating?" go for it. You never know what opportunities may come from it.
2) But also understand that you need to rewire your brain for twins, and you need to stay proficient in flying twins. If you don't, Richard Collins will have been right and you will be safer in a single. Twins require proficiency and a dedication to training. If you're saying "I normally fly a single, but this trip is harder so I'm only going to be comfortable if I do it in a twin," stay on the ground. I always get concerned when I see pilots who have little to no twin experience decide that they're only willing to make a trip in bad weather if it's a twin. If you start flying twins, you need to do it regularly. If anything, it should become your primary transport, at least for a while until you gain comfort and proficiency.
3) I think Richard Collins was wrong and his article saying singles are safer than twins is one of the greatest disservices anyone has done to general aviation. In the hands of a competent and proficient pilot, a twin is safer on many accounts, not just because of engine redundancy but also because of systems redundancy that tends to go with that, the extra horsepower that helps in icing, and they handle turbulence better.
4) If you're flying a piston twin, the idea of a single-engine go-around is a joke. Don't attempt one in real life. Brief a single engine landing as "I've only got one chance to do this" and behave as such. I personally would not attempt a real single engine go around in a piston twin. Even in the MU-2, if the gear is down you're told that it just won't do it, period.
5) Understand that a twin doesn't always mean that you will be able to climb out on one or stay above ground level on one, but understand what impacts those conditions and plan accordingly to give yourself the best chance at success should an engine fail. Longer runways are better, less weight is better. Sometimes compromises have to be made on these, but "Full fuel all the time" doesn't make sense in a twin for safety purposes.
Twins are great.
