no sponsor. Its 6 hours minimum. Lets just say I did the absolute minimum necessary and had 6 hours in my logbook when I did my test.
The bit about needing an instructor for the insurance, yes, that is often the case, but I was really only suggesting flying the twin for a bit of fun and possibly to gain another rating.
It used to be the case that if you flew at least 0.5 hour P1 after completing your FAA multi private (although you could of course have a safety pilot with you for insurance purposes) you could get a CAA multi rating added to your CAA licence for just the price of a stamp. I realise this has probably changed to something totally ridiculous and expensive now, but worth checking.
However, I still think doing a twin rating would be a) excellent experience b) lots of fun.
Come on, $119 per hour!!!! Thats what, about £85 per hour? And no landing fees or anything.
I still think its the best thing I ever did. I loved it, it made me really think about flying properly, and after doing that rating when I did (low hours PPL) I decided I wanted to be an airline pilot! (Guess that came true then...)
Its like learning to fly again and much more fun than a checkout on an Arrow. It also counts for a FAA complex checkout which means you can fly something like an Arrow, once you have the twin rating. Have no idea if that would count in the UK though. However, for the marginal extra cost its got to be worth the fun of doing the twin stuff!
Have fun in the US. Can't wait to go over there again for some light aircraft flying......