Regulations, the Rating, and the Checkride

An applicant for an additional class rating must (61.63(c)):

1. Have a logbook or training record endorsement from an authorized instructor attesting that you were found competent in the appropriate aeronautical knowledge areas and proficient in the appropriate areas of operation
2. Pass the practical test

That's the whole list. AMEL is a class rating within the airplane category — you already hold the category.

No — you need not take an additional knowledge test, provided you hold an airplane, rotorcraft, powered-lift, weight-shift-control aircraft, powered parachute, or airship rating at that pilot certificate level (61.63(c)(4)).

You already hold an airplane rating at your certificate level, so the written is behind you.

No specified training time. An applicant for an additional class rating need not meet the specified training time requirements prescribed by this part that apply to the pilot certificate for the aircraft class rating sought (61.63(c)(3)).

The one exception in the rule: a person who holds only a lighter-than-air category rating with a balloon class rating and is seeking an airship class rating must meet the specified training time and aeronautical experience.

Practically, "no minimum" is not "no training." The standard you must meet is your instructor's competence-and-proficiency endorsement and the practical test — and the discipline this rating demands is not measured in hours.

A category rating additionally requires that you complete the training and have the applicable aeronautical experience (61.63(b)(1)). A class rating carries no such specified training time (61.63(c)(3)).

Both require the instructor endorsement and the practical test, and neither requires an additional knowledge test if you already hold an airplane, rotorcraft, powered-lift, weight-shift-control, powered parachute, or airship rating at that certificate level (61.63(b), (c)).

The multiengine tasks of the ACS appropriate to the certificate level you hold — the Private Pilot ACS if you hold a private certificate, the Commercial Pilot ACS if you hold a commercial. You are not earning a new certificate; you are adding a class rating to the one you have.

The ACS for a multiengine class rating contains a task for feathering and unfeathering of one propeller during flight in airplanes in which it is safe to do so (AFH ch. 13). Get the current ACS for your certificate level and read its multiengine areas of operation directly.

A type rating is required for (61.31(a)):

• Large aircraft (except lighter-than-air)
• Turbojet-powered airplanes
• Powered-lift
• Other aircraft specified by the Administrator through aircraft type certificate procedures

Most light twins fall well below those thresholds — an AMEL class rating covers them. The AFH's whole chapter concerns airplanes of 12,500 lb or less maximum certificated takeoff weight (AFH ch. 13).

For an aircraft type rating you must meet all of the following (61.63(d)(1)–(4)):

1. Hold or concurrently obtain an appropriate instrument rating (except as provided in paragraph (e))
2. Be endorsed as competent and proficient at the airline transport pilot certification level
3. Pass the practical test at the ATP certification level
4. Perform the practical test in actual or simulated instrument conditions (except as provided in paragraph (e))

See the next card for what (e) allows.

If you provide an aircraft not capable of the required instrument maneuvers and procedures, the rating will be issued limited to "VFR only" (61.63(e)).

Three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, as sole manipulator of the flight controls, in an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if a class or type rating is required) (61.57(a)(1)).

Category and class are the operative words. Your currency in a single-engine airplane does not carry over to a multiengine airplane — AMEL is a different class. Landings in your twin likewise do not make you current in the single.

The same three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, but to a full stop, during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise — and again in an aircraft of the same category, class, and type (if a class or type rating is required) (61.57(b)).

So night currency in a twin requires full-stop landings in a twin.

Yes. For the purpose of meeting 61.57(a)(1), a person may act as PIC under day VFR or day IFR provided no persons or property are carried on board other than those necessary for the conduct of the flight (61.57(a)(2)).

Note the exception applies to the general (day) experience paragraph — go re-read 61.57(b) before assuming the same for night.

Instrument recent experience under 61.57(c)(1) is by category, not class: within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight, performed and logged in an airplane (or powered-lift, helicopter, or airship as appropriate):

• Six instrument approaches
• Holding procedures and tasks
• Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems

So instrument currency earned in a single-engine airplane satisfies 61.57(c) for airplanes generally. Legal is not the same as proficient — single-engine instrument currency prepares you poorly for an OEI approach in a twin.

A person who has failed to meet the 61.57(c) instrument experience requirements for more than six calendar months may reestablish currency only by completing an instrument proficiency check (61.57(d)(1)).

The IPC must cover the areas of operation in the applicable ACS as listed in appendix A of part 61, must be in an aircraft appropriate to the aircraft category (or a representative full flight simulator or FTD), and must be given by an examiner, an authorized instructor, or the other authorized persons listed in 61.57(d)(3).

A class rating is not always enough — 61.31 adds one-time endorsements by airplane characteristic, not by class:

• Complex airplane — ground and flight training from an authorized instructor, found proficient in the operation and systems, plus a one-time logbook endorsement (61.31(e))
• High-performance airplane — defined as an airplane with an engine of more than 200 horsepower — same training plus a one-time endorsement (61.31(f))
• Pressurized aircraft capable of operating at high altitudes — defined as an aircraft with a service ceiling or maximum operating altitude, whichever is lower, above 25,000 feet MSL — requires both logged ground training with an endorsement and logged flight training with an endorsement (61.31(g))

Most light twins are complex and high-performance, so expect at least two of these.

The rating itself doesn't, but your ability to use it is gated by the usual requirements:

• A flight review
• An appropriate medical or BasicMed
• The 61.57 recent experience above for carrying passengers

Beyond the regulations, the AFH's own framing applies: the performance and redundancy of a twin only increase safety if the pilot is trained and proficient (AFH ch. 13). Currency is a legal floor; proficiency in a twin is a separate, higher, and perishable thing.

Because of the OEI regime. The AFH: there are several unique characteristics of multiengine airplanes that make them worthy of a separate class rating, and the OEI flight information emphasizes the significant difference between flying a multiengine and a single-engine airplane (AFH ch. 13).

But note the handbook's own caveat in the same paragraph: all pilots need appropriate knowledge, risk management strategies, and skills to fly safely in any airplane they fly, and mastery of OEI flight is only one aspect of safe multiengine flying.

An examiner who conducts your practical test may waive any task for which the FAA has provided waiver authority (61.63(i)).

This is the hook the FAA uses for tasks that cannot be safely accomplished in a given airplane or under given conditions — for example, the AFH notes the ACS feathering task applies in airplanes in which it is safe to do so (AFH ch. 13). Don't plan on a waiver; know what your airplane and the day permit and brief it with the examiner.

An applicant for a type rating, at other than the ATP certification level, in a multiengine airplane with a single-pilot station must perform the practical test in the multi-seat version of that airplane — or in the single-seat version if the Examiner is in a position to observe the applicant during the practical test and there is no multi-seat version of that airplane (61.63(f)).

Pull the current ACS for the certificate level you hold and work its multiengine areas of operation directly — those tasks are the test. The multiengine-specific ones (AFH ch. 13):

• VMC demonstration
• Engine failure during takeoff and in flight
• Engine-inoperative approach and landing
• Feathering and unfeathering where safe to do so

Pair each task with the AFM/POH numbers for your airplane. The ACS tells you what; the AFM/POH is the final authority on how, and the manufacturer's guidance takes precedence over any general recommendation (AFH ch. 13).

Two things (AFH ch. 13):

The airplane as a procedures trainer. Many normal, abnormal, and emergency procedures can be introduced and practiced in the airplane as it sits on the ground without the engines running — the value of this training may be substantial, and the engines do not have to be operating for real learning to occur. Restore all items to their proper positions afterward.

Simulation. For maneuvers that would be hazardous in flight, or for initial and recurrent qualification in an advanced multiengine airplane, consider a simulator training center or manufacturer's training course. Emergency procedures that would be dangerous or impossible to accomplish in an airplane can be done safely and effectively in an FTD or simulator — and the device need not duplicate the specific make and model to be useful.

It calls the practice somewhat controversial, and comes down against it early on (AFH ch. 13):

• The learning value may be offset by the hazards of reconfiguring the airplane for takeoff in extremely limited time, and the loss of the follow-through of a full-stop landing
• Touch-and-goes are not recommended during initial aircraft familiarization in multiengine airplanes
• The multiengine airplane uses considerably more runway for a touch-and-go than a single
• A full stop-taxi back landing is preferable during initial familiarization
• Solo touch-and-goes in twins are strongly discouraged

If done at all, learner and instructor responsibilities must be carefully briefed prior to each flight — typically the learner maintains directional control with left hand on the yoke and right hand on the throttles while the instructor resets flaps and trim and announces when the airplane is reconfigured.

Two things, before the flight begins (AFH ch. 13): the objectives, maneuvers, expected learner actions, and completion standards, and a clear understanding of how simulated emergencies will be introduced and what action the learner is expected to take.

The reason is stark: surprising a multiengine learner with an emergency without a thorough briefing beforehand creates a hazardous condition, and stall-spin accidents in training for emergencies rival the number of stall-spin accidents from actual emergencies.

The rating is the beginning of the obligation, not the end. The chapter's closing argument: a competent multiengine pilot acquires the additional knowledge, risk mitigation strategies, and practical skills required to fly the airplane in case a loss of thrust actually occurs (AFH ch. 13).

Practical implications:

• Keep your AFM/POH numbers current in memory — VMC, VYSE, VXSE, VSSE, single-engine ceiling
• Keep the memory items for engine failure after takeoff genuinely memorized
• Recognize that 61.57 currency in a twin is class-specific — single-engine landings don't count
• Treat simulator recurrent training as the normal way to rehearse what cannot be safely flown

Non-regulatory note — practical guidance, not a 14 CFR requirement: insurance carriers typically impose their own minimums for make and model time, dual received, and recurrent training. Those requirements come from the underwriter, not the FAA — get them in writing from your broker before you plan a checkout.