Why Add a Multi-Engine Rating? What to Expect From Twin Training

If you plan to fly for a living, a multi-engine rating is one of the most important steps after your commercial certificate. Airlines, charter companies, and most corporate flight departments fly airplanes with more than one engine. Before they can hire you, you need to be rated to fly them.

At Red Arrow Flight Academy in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, we are now enrolling for our Accelerated Multi-Engine Rating Program. Here is what the rating is, what you will learn, and what to expect from training.

What Is a Multi-Engine Rating?

A multi-engine rating is an add-on to a pilot certificate you already hold. It allows you to act as pilot in command of an airplane with more than one engine. Most students add it to their Commercial Pilot Certificate, which is why you will often hear it called the Commercial Multi-Engine Add-On.

The good news is that there is no separate FAA written exam for the add-on. Your training focuses on flying the airplane and understanding its systems, and it ends with a checkride.

Who Should Get One?

A multi-engine rating is a good fit for:

• Commercial pilots who are building toward an airline or charter career
• Flight instructors who want to add multi-engine experience to their logbook
• Military helicopter pilots moving to fixed-wing flying
• Private pilots who want to fly faster, more capable airplanes

If your goal is the airlines, multi-engine time is not optional. It is a requirement on the path to your Airline Transport Pilot certificate.

What Will You Learn?

Flying a twin is different from flying a Cessna 172. You have more power, more speed, and more systems to manage. Most of your training is about one question: what do you do if an engine quits?

During your training you will cover:

• Multi-engine aerodynamics, including Vmc and the critical engine
• Engine failures on takeoff, in cruise, and on approach
• Flying and landing the airplane on one engine
• Retractable landing gear and constant-speed propellers
• Feathering a propeller and securing a failed engine
• Performance planning and weight and balance for a twin

These skills make you a sharper pilot in any airplane. You will learn to stay ahead of the airplane, follow checklists carefully, and make decisions quickly.

What Is the Checkride Like?

Like every FAA practical test, the multi-engine checkride has an oral portion and a flight portion. It is given by a Designated Pilot Examiner, or DPE.

On the ground, expect questions about the airplane’s systems, single-engine performance, and how you would handle an engine failure at different points in a flight. In the air, you will demonstrate normal operations, engine-out procedures, and a single-engine approach and landing.

Your instructor will not sign you off until you are ready. By checkride day, the procedures should feel familiar.

Why Train at Red Arrow?

Red Arrow Flight Academy is the only Part 141 flight school in the El Paso region. Our multi-engine students train in our twin-engine Piper Seneca with a Multi-Engine Instructor (MEI) who knows the airplane inside and out.

Our home at Doña Ana County International Jetport (KDNA) gives you open airspace and light traffic. That means less time waiting on the ground and more time practicing in the air. With El Paso next door, you also get experience in controlled airspace.

Our accelerated program is built for pilots who want to finish quickly. You fly often, stay focused, and keep what you learned fresh from one lesson to the next.

Enroll in the Accelerated Multi-Engine Rating Program

If you are a pilot in Santa Teresa, El Paso, Las Cruces, or at Fort Bliss and you are ready for your next rating, we would love to fly with you. Spots are open now.

Enroll today or call us at (575) 201-6160 to talk with our team about the Accelerated Multi-Engine Rating Program. Learn more about our training courses and take the next step toward your multi-engine add-on.

Reach Out Today