Commercial and Multi-Engine at the same time?

[cquill72]

After a review of Part 61, it seems that a Private Pilot with only an Airplane Single Engine Land (ASEL) rating can obtain a Commercial Pilot Certificate with an Airplane Multi-Engine Land (AMEL) rating concurrently with one Practical Test. Can anyone confirm this?


Here's my reason to believe the answer is yes:

61.123(h) says the applicant must hold at least a private pilot certificate. It does not specify a Category or Class (ie. Airplane Multi-Engine Land) for that Private Pilot Certificate.

Lastly, it seems there is no Multi-Engine solo time required for the Commercial-Multi under 61.129(b). It says 10 hours of solo flight time in a multiengine airplane OR 10 hours of flight time performing the duties of pilot in command in a multiengine airplane with an authorized instructor.

So the question becomes, do you need to be multi-engine rated (or have a solo endorsement for a multi-engine airplane) to "perform the duties of pilot in command in a multiengine airplane with an authorized instructor"?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I have potential students who have this question.

Thanks.

[Jeff S KDTW]

You are correct.

You can get your Comm ME certificate as your initial Comm certificate, even without holding ME privileges on your Private certificate. In fact, the checkride for the Comm ME will NOT include such things as lazy 8's, chandelles, etc.

However, if and when you decide to addon SE privileges to your Comm certificate, you will need to perform all of the manuevers associated with the SE as layed out in the PTS.

One thing to consider, however, is that in many cases you will need "PIC" ME time for some reason (insurance requirements, resume, etc.). In such case, you might want to consider taking a checkride to add the ME privileges to your Private certificate first (this takes 5-10 hours). Then, as you train for the Comm ME, all of that training time can be logged as PIC ME time.

Good luck.

[cquill72]

Thank you for confirming that Jeff. Good info about the multi PIC time also. Thanks for your time.

Corey