Hello to everyone. I've been reading this forum for years, and its now time for my first thread
I finally got to the position where I can afford to start my professional pilot training (modular, as I want to keep working on the side), and my anticipated path is a little unusual, reason why I would appreciate your thought about it.
The flight school in my city offers a full ATPL Theory + CPL + IR/SE course, but they do not have a multi-engine aircraft, nor a certified simulator. BUT, they do have a very nice non-certified simulator, that can be used for free as much as desired. Obviously, I would then need to do an IR/ME course in another school, to be able to land a job.
I pretty much already decided to do my ATPL theory + CPL with the local school, but the main purpose of my question is to understand the pros and cons of an IR/SE training that will be done exclusively in the air on a single-engine aircraft + an additional IR/ME course; VERSUS a more traditional IR course, where most of the flying will be done on a certified ME simulator + about 15 hours on a real plane.
First question; would one or the second alternative make me more or less attractive towards a potential employer?
Second question; does anyone have an idea of the time necessary to upgrade from a SE/IR to a ME/IR for a regular student that just completed his SE/IR? Are we only talking of a ME rating + another skill test, or is there something more behind it?
The purpose of this question is for me to try an monetise the cost of the "ME/IR upgrade" and put it into perspective with the traditional training. The SE/IR is cheaper than the ME/IR, but I have no idea where will the ME/IR upgrade will bring to total cost.
If someone wonders, the reason why I'm not going directly for the IR/ME is because the closes flight school having an ME represents an about 5 hours round trip, that I would need to do about 40 times. I'm also ready to chose this alternative, but it would need to have some significant advantages, that I do not see at this point.
I'm looking forward to reading your opinions.