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Plane Talk MAXIMIZING YOUR INVESTMENT
Making The Multi-Engine Leap
Every prudent, single-engine pilot who has called it a day instead of venturing into mountainous terrain at night or trying to traverse an area of 300-foot ceilings has toyed with the idea of upgrading to a twin-engine airplane.
 After all, if you travel frequently, the increased safety of having a second engine on board should mean fewer nights spent in a hotel, and fewer trips cancelled because of low ceilings. So why wouldn’t everyone want to fly a twin?
There are many reasons, not the least of which is the increased cost to operate a twin. One expert we spoke with estimated the cost of maintaining a twin-engine airplane is anywhere from two to four times the cost of a high-end single. Fuel and oil prices are of course doubled, and then there are increased insurance costs, which seem designed to discourage newly-minted multi-engine pilots from ever buying an airplane.
Because a twin is using two engines instead of one, payload is often the same as a high-end single performing at the same airspeed, and fuel consumption limits many entry-level twins to just three or four hours’ endurance.
Of course, one issue that really needs to be considered carefully by every would-be multi-engine pilot is safety.
“There’s no guarantee of additional safety in a twin,” says Thomas Johnson, vice president of Cannon Aviation Insurance Agency and a specialist in helping single-engine pilots upgrade to multi-engine platforms. “It’s not a magic airplane.” Experts note that when comparing single-engine accidents to multi-engine accidents, the statistics for multi-engine accidents look much worse.
But those statistics don’t reflect the number of engine failures — certainly an exciting event in a single — that were non-events for multi-engine pilots who simply flew to an airport and landed without incident on one engine.
John King, co-owner of King Schools, says scary accident stories shouldn’t discourage a pilot from considering an upgrade. “Frankly, if one is flying a single-engine airplane at night, over rugged terrain, you’re asking a single-engine airplane to do a multi-engine airplane’s job,” he says.
King says a pilot who flies once or twice a month and who undergoes recurrent training once a year should have no problems safely flying a twin-engine airplane, but it’s a matter of learning the proper habits.
When people talk about twins and accidents, most of the time they’re talking about those few seconds after the wheels leave the runway when the airplane is barely able to fly. In a single-engine airplane, an engine failure pretty much dictates a return to earth. In a twin, pilots may have a choice. And it’s in that split second when the decision whether to continue or abort must be made and acted on with absolute authority. “There is a period of exposure you have, say until you get to 1,000 feet, in which you would have to be really, really sharp to pull it off,” King said. “You don’t have time to freeze and you don’t have time to do the wrong thing.”
Still, he says, “the odds of having a failure at that exact instant are pretty slim.”
With proper training and practice, King says any proficient pilot can commit the recovery procedures to memory and have a better chance at making the right decisions. “It’s like opening your car door … you just think, `I want out,’ and your hand does it.”
Indeed, training is not only key to ensuring your safety in a twin, it can also help you save money. Johnson says the more multi-engine, dual instruction time a pilot has before applying for insurance, the better rates he or she will be likely to get.
An instrument rating is pretty much required, and lots of hours in complex aircraft, preferably with a commercial license, will help new multi-engine pilots get more advantageous rates. One suggestion Johnson has for newly-minted multi-engine pilots is to write out a training plan — say, attending SimCom or Flight Safety, followed by 20 or 50 hours of dual instruction — and submit that to the insurance company along with the insurance application. “A lot of times, if you offer something like that to the underwriter, you might get a more attractive training requirement than if you just submit (the application) and let them pick something out,” he says.
Once you’re insured, many insurers require annual recurrent training, ranging from an instrument proficiency check for a low-end twin, to Flight Safety or SimCom training for heavier, more complex airplanes.
Is a multi-engine airplane starting to sound less attractive? Keep listening. Mel Dorr, owner of Dorr Aviation Credit Corporation, a company that specializes in general aviation aircraft, said twin-engine airplanes can be quite a bargain compared to some high-end singles.
Remember that a twin will have built-in redundancy like dual vacuum pumps, dual alternators (and dual engines), providing added reliability in IFR conditions. Also, since twins are used almost exclusively for cross-country travel, many have upgraded avionics and advanced GPS systems, and yet are priced comparably to high-end single-engine airplanes without such niceties.
“Dollar for dollar, the twin is a better buy,” Dorr said. “But that’s because the twin is much more expensive to operate.”
Is upgrading to a twin-engine airplane right for you and your family? Depending on where you fly and when, it may be a safe way to increase your reliability. Or it may be an added expense that you find is just not worth the bother. The choice is up to you.
—Sean Fulton
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