Multi engine hour building USA???

[Birdseed123]

Hi folks,

A friend and I are looking to hour build in the USA in a multi-engine piston.

Ideally we want to take the aircraft away from base for a couple of weeks at a time to do the grand tour and make a bit of a holiday out of it.

Can anyone recommend anywhere that'll allow us to do this?
We both have CPL/IR's and about 200 - 250 hrs

Thanks!

[Chilli Monster]

Well - you can ask, but be prepared for a lot of refusals before you get a yes (even if you get one).

Twin insurance has gone through the roof in the U.S over the past few months, and many companies who used to do twin rental won't anymore. Bear that in mind if you come across any web sites which say they do rental, but may not have been updated. If you can find any you might find neither of you have sufficient hours - good luck.

[TonyR]

Chilli Monster beat me to it.

I have hired multi engine in the US, but even 3 years ago most schools were looking for 1000 hours min and at least 500 multi & 50 on type.

From what I hear it has got worse with insurance companies setting the minimum requirements.

It might be cheaper in Spain or S Africa.

Tony

[slim_slag]

Not sure what you were renting there Tony as those were a bit steep even a few years back, but you are right that insurance companies set the requirements now. Probably not a bad thing with all the light twins that are going down due to apparent pilot error. Still, plenty of FBOs are repairing damaged planes on their own dime instead of making an insurance claim which would then shut down the rental fleet.

ADP (http://www.adp-flight.com) would be a good start to talk to on this.

[Charlie Zulu]

Air Desert Pacific have quite a few requirements for someone to take a Seneca away from base (or any aeroplane away from base for that matter). See:

http://www.airdesertpacific.com/aircraft/rentinfo.asp

As you'll see they'll require an FAA Instrument Rating *and* an FAA Multi Engine Instructor Rating (MEI).

However if you have the experience then I'd recommend them to rent from, I have on a couple of previous occassions, although not a Seneca... an Arrow III instead.

If you don't mind Florida then Naples Air Center has a Piper Seminole (PA44) that they rent out to someone with at least 300 hours total time and either 50 hours multi time (inc 10 on a Piper Seminole) *or* 25 hours multi time with a completed NAC multi engine course.

http://naples-air-center.com/renters%20minimums%20and%20info.htm

They don't mind long trips around the USA... in fact they encourage it if you're doing lots of hours.

There is also another place in Florida which have a Seneca V available to rent... have a look at the following site although I'm not sure what their requirements for solo rental is.

http://www.amfly.com/index.html

These are pretty typical solo experience requirements due to insurance premiums, stipulations and requirements in the United States.

Oh if you decide to go at the end of June / beginning of July then you'll be out of luck at NAC as I'm using their Seminole. :D

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

[TonyR]

I was renting at one of the Lantana schools, I think the PA27 Aztec was owned by Palm Beach Flight or something.

It was an old 1960s Aztec but if you wanted to take it away for any longer than an hour at a time that was the minimum experience they wanted unless you were a multi instructor and had worked for them.

We went to the Bahamas for a week then later we went to New Orleans. Not very fast but great fun.

[18greens]

If you don't mind San Diego try Plusone flyers. www.plusone.org

They have a couple of duchesses for $159/hour and I recall that all you need is a checkout, no 1000 hour minimums and they don't care how many hours you do per day.

I flew with them a few years ago and they were great.