Originally Posted by Send Clowns
If there is a reason to fly with three levers per engine, then I would say that the reason for making the IR challenging while you are still used to flying the complex type (required for the CPL) is that if you don't then your observation will be reversed.
All the evidence from DA42 operators shows that the DA42 is easier to fly and operate than the "traditional" aeroplanes and surely this is a good thing. There are no extra points to be scored or ratings to be earned from doing the most difficult part of your training on an aeroplane that makes life even more difficult for you. All that there IS is the increased risk of a failure or partial pass. A partial will cost the student and extra £1000 or so in training, aircraft hire and test fees- a failure probably double that. £1000 buys you 3 hours in a Seneca - enough to get used to multilever operation (should you need to do such a thing).
The IR is a hurdle to jump - everyone knows that - but it is not a realistic example of the sort of flying that you will do next. It replicates single pilot AOC work - something that the majority of IR graduates will be some 500hours short of being qualified for. By the time the pilot has 700 hours under their belt they will have the experience required to handle the workload and the transition from single lever to multi lever aeroplanes.
Very few IR graduates go on the fly the aeroplane upon which they passed their tests - most go on to do MCC and head for an airline or go for an FIC and fly single engined aeroplanes for some time (as you yourself did, I believe). Therefore, the choice of MEIR training aeroplane should not be particularly closely based upon what come next but upon what is going to best facilitate the training process.
However, as airliners become more spohisticated, even at the bottom end of the market, the EFIS/GPS type operating environment will become more representative of where the graduate is likely to find himself.
The "pass your test on something challenging" attitude would have people learning to drive on Austin Sevens with crash gearboxes, iffy brakes and dodgy steering. The world moves on (unless you are Piper in which case the world is still as it was in the 1950s). Even Cessna are now fitting EFIS to the 172.
Originally Posted by Send Clowns
However I was not trying to argue a positive advantage for the traditional twin, just that there was no advantage to having done an IR on the DA-42.
But that's precisely what you did do in your first quoted comment!