Multi-Engine Ride

I just passed my multi-engine checkride, so now when my new license comes in the mail it will say something like ALL SINGLE PILOT NON-HIGH PERFORMANCE, SINGLE AND MULTI ENGINE LAND AEROPLANES, NIGHT.

Although I passed my flight test, I didn't do as well as I had hoped. There were some things at the beginning of the flight that I missed which I should not have screwed up, but I'm chalking that up to nervousness, and flying at an unfamiliar airport. There were some other things during the flight test that I didn't do well on because we didn't go over it during training, and there was no procedure laid out for it in the Flight Manual. Oh well, at the end of the day I have the rating in my hand and the examiner made it a learning experience for me as well.

I think however that I learned more about my skills on the flights to and from the flight test then I did during/after the flight test. I am based out of London, and we took the flight test in Brantford, which means we had to make the short cross country hop to and from. This was actually the first time I've done a cross country flight in the twin. And as it turned out, when we climbed aboard on our way to Brantford, Richard realized he forgot his headset, so rather then going to get it, he didn't bother and just trusted that I was capable enough to handle things on my own. So it was kind of like a first solo flight.

As much as its a nuisance to have to get 50 hrs dual time to appease the insurance companies, even though I'm multi-engine rated now, I think I'm going to side with the insurance company. The truth is that although with my 13 hrs of twin time I may be safe to operate a twin 98% of the time (which included the time during my flight test, hence the pass), I don't think I would be able to keep up when things become less ideal. There are always distractions that can pull your focus away from your cockpit duties: Talking passengers, ATC trying to communicate, minor problems with airplane systems, another airplane doing something unusual/retarded, even just stress. All of these types of things can have a tendency to pull your attention away at the worst possible moment, and then you forget to do something, or do it wrong. Even in the Cessna 150 I remember having difficulty focusing on my landing approach with a chatty passenger.

The kind of proficiency required to be safe 100% of the time can only come with flight time in the airplane, and as of yet, I don't have enough. So despite the torment of being multi-engine rated but not yet being allowed to fly my own airplane, the insurance companies actually do know what is required to be safe, so I'll gladly go along with it.