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spiderweb

spiderweb

Final Approach
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Ben
If I want to do the multi with my MEI (the one who took me from Day 1 of PPL training through to the IR), the only aircraft we can rent is a NA C310. That's going to cost a lot, but the alternative is to go to a flight school and fly with a far less experienced instructor whose rates are much higher. The overall price would be lower, though.

How does one make these decisions, especially when compicating factors are thrown in the mix, such as *your* instructor is also your friend, and you've known him for five years?

Sigh. . . .

I'll talk with him about it again next week during our currency flight.
 
go for the 310, you will be flying a better airplane, with an instructor that is already familiar with you and your strengths and weaknesses, the 10 hr guaranteed multi mills, give you nothing but a useless piece of paper.
 
bbchien said:
Ben, how much for the 310?
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Uggg. The rental will probably be $250 wet. I may be able to get a block discount, but if I do that, I will have to save for half a year or take out a loan (neither move a bad idea, really).
 
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HPNFlyGirl said:
Stick with an instructor that you like and get a long with.
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Well, I do get along with the instructors at the Big-Time One-Forty-One Flight School, too, but I'm not sure how much multi time they have. (That's a nice way of saying, they maybe have 100 hours multi, if that.)
 
One other thought, Ben, suggested by my insurance agent.

Go out and get the multi certificate at the lowest rate you can find (with a good instructor, of course!), hopefully in a plane without lots of systems, and then get some hours in a plane at a low rate. Then spend time really learning in the plane you eventually want to fly.

Hours count for everything with a multi.

OTOH, I'm with you, if I really like and trust the instructor, it's worth a premium to fly with him/her.
 
wsuffa said:
Go out and get the multi certificate at the lowest rate you can find (with a good instructor, of course!), hopefully in a plane without lots of systems, and then get some hours in a plane at a low rate. Then spend time really learning in the plane you eventually want to fly.
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That may or may not be a good idea, depending on the insurance requirements for the plane you intend to fly. The rules on the Cougar when we had it on leaseback were 25 in type or 50 ME with 5 in type. It is my understanding that this is typical. In that case, you'd need to train in a twin whose rental rate allows 45 hours for less than 20 hours in the type you want to fly in order for it to be cheaper. YMMV.

In addition, as noted, twins are complicated, with systems that vary significantly from type to type. Accident rates in such planes are much higher in the first 10-15 hours in type. IMO, 25 hours in the type you're going to fly will usually make you a safer pilot in the type you're going to fly than 45 hours in another type and 5 in the type you're going to fly.
 
At the flight school I mentioned, they rent Seminoles, and you can fly solo the second you have your ticket. They say they are *planning* to get a Seneca, but I don't know. That wouldn't be so different from the Seminole, but the C310 would be quite different.
 
Ron Levy said:
That may or may not be a good idea, depending on the insurance requirements for the plane you intend to fly. The rules on the Cougar when we had it on leaseback were 25 in type or 50 ME with 5 in type. It is my understanding that this is typical. In that case, you'd need to train in a twin whose rental rate allows 45 hours for less than 20 hours in the type you want to fly in order for it to be cheaper. YMMV.

In addition, as noted, twins are complicated, with systems that vary significantly from type to type. Accident rates in such planes are much higher in the first 10-15 hours in type. IMO, 25 hours in the type you're going to fly will usually make you a safer pilot in the type you're going to fly than 45 hours in another type and 5 in the type you're going to fly.
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All that is, of course, correct.

My broker was coming from the context of ownership, where the underwriters had typically been telling him that cost breaks come at about 100 hours of total multi time (of which at least 25 had to be in-type). IIRC, there was also a break at a certain number of PIC/multi hours, with some credit for a lot of SE/complex time. We were talking "Seneca II/III/IV/V" class of plane, as opposed to something like a P-Baron.

So, depending on the situation, you may well be better off racking up a lot of cheap hours as long as you meet the in-type time. Or not, if you have a rental deal like you mentioned.
 
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