Cessna 337 on single PPL.
Most insurance companies require some check out on different aircraft . So the license requirements can vary , but getting the insurance approval can be entertaining . Of course if you can afford it you can self insure , the bond requirements can rule out most non millionaire types. Their are a lot of nice single pilot machines out there gathering dust as the insurance requirements can preclude a lot of part timers with low hours from getting insurance approval .
If you can get it started , you should be able to fly it was the joke in flight school as some of the schools more complex aircraft required a flooded start most days due to vapour lock . So the idea was to flood it deliberately while cranking it over , keep it cranking , mixture cut off and when it fires get the mixture back up quick before it quits . If you stop cranking you risk a cowl fire , if you give it too much flooding you can get a cowl fire . But if you time it right it can be a smooth start at least most of the time . The three handed monkey start is good training for any aspiring MU 2 pilots , as the three handed start technique is a useful transferable skill set .Also useful for apprentice magicians still in training awaiting induction to the IBM .After one amazing flooded start complete with showmen flames and a very loud announcement of the engine finally awakening somewhat reluctantly on a hot day .It was announced that all the PFM had been used for the day and that start was as entertaining and magical as anything that a worshipful aspire-rant of the International Brotherhood of Magicians might do for the audience of wannabes watching from the eagles nest cafe . Whose normal critiques were usually limited to the landing attempts on the humpback runway .
Anyhoo , make sure you are on the insurance
If you can get it started , you should be able to fly it was the joke in flight school as some of the schools more complex aircraft required a flooded start most days due to vapour lock . So the idea was to flood it deliberately while cranking it over , keep it cranking , mixture cut off and when it fires get the mixture back up quick before it quits . If you stop cranking you risk a cowl fire , if you give it too much flooding you can get a cowl fire . But if you time it right it can be a smooth start at least most of the time . The three handed monkey start is good training for any aspiring MU 2 pilots , as the three handed start technique is a useful transferable skill set .Also useful for apprentice magicians still in training awaiting induction to the IBM .After one amazing flooded start complete with showmen flames and a very loud announcement of the engine finally awakening somewhat reluctantly on a hot day .It was announced that all the PFM had been used for the day and that start was as entertaining and magical as anything that a worshipful aspire-rant of the International Brotherhood of Magicians might do for the audience of wannabes watching from the eagles nest cafe . Whose normal critiques were usually limited to the landing attempts on the humpback runway .
Anyhoo , make sure you are on the insurance
Read the handbook
Of course if you bother to read the C337 handbook (quite thin) and understand the fuel system and basic (Continental) fuel injection system then starts and operation are hardly a black art. At the end of the day the machine is still a 'twin' that has some extra systems from a single, and although lacking the classic asymmetric handling issues it still needs to have its 'errant' engine identified (no dead leg help here) and the correct action taken. It was the first twin I flew (a STOL version) and allowed operating into 'strips' a normal twin could not venture. However it still needed to be operated bearing in mind its single engine capability and engine temps always watched. My next twin was the Seneca (from normal airfields) so was less of a jump as the lessons of single engine performance was already implanted, and just the 'asy' bit to learn. Never as much fun as the 337 which could haul a full load out of farmers strips and do a shed load of aerial photography with its high wing. As alluded before really needed a 'stronger ' engine for commercial ops. The French offered their Reims built ones converted as a budget ground attack machine with miniguns and rockets !!!!! Prob OK if the opposition only has swords and spears !!!! , they also offered a marine rescue version that could drop liferafts.
As Megan has noted, the Australian system in the past allowed the Cessna 182 type rating to give automatic coverage to the C180/185. I know of at least two accidents, one fatal, that were a result of that crazy system.
The fatal was a young man on his first day using a C180 on parachuting without proper instruction on the handling of the C180. The second was a C185 also on parachuting where a pilot on his first use of the C185, again without instruction, proceeded to ground loop the aircraft which resulted in one undercarriage leg being torn off, followed by the wing and propeller hitting the ground and subsequently writing the aircraft off.
The fatal was a young man on his first day using a C180 on parachuting without proper instruction on the handling of the C180. The second was a C185 also on parachuting where a pilot on his first use of the C185, again without instruction, proceeded to ground loop the aircraft which resulted in one undercarriage leg being torn off, followed by the wing and propeller hitting the ground and subsequently writing the aircraft off.
