Originally Posted by
gordonquinn
I'm looking into this option myself and in case anyone is curious about then upgrading the SE IR to an ME IR, this was the CAA's response to just that question:
"To upgrade from a SE IR to a ME IR you will need to complete 5 hours of instruction and a skills test on a MEP aircraft. You will then be issued with a IR-SP-ME class/SE rating."
However, the difficulty in passing that skills test after just 5 hours of multi engine time, even with a lot of single engine instrument hours, is a question I don't know the answer to.
It will come down to how well you can fly
Be careful about the "minimum hours" trap, especially after a prolonged break. Better to budget for a little longer just in case.
Also, 5 hours is barely enough to become proficient, but as someone mentioned above sim assessments do not tend to focus on OEI procedures.
They do focus on flying an approach, often using raw data.
One advantage of flying IR in an ME aircraft is that by flying approaches in a heavier aircraft you will become better at energy management, which is a key skill for later.
This can also be successfully addressed during the APS MCC of course. But you won't have previous experience doing it, and doing it during IR ME allows for a lot more trial and error than a 737 sim.