Multi-Engine Rating Cost: $5,100 All-In Explained

A multi-engine rating at Van Nuys costs $5,100. That price covers eight hours in the Piper Seminole, two hours in the Redbird MCX full-motion simulator, ten hours of flight instruction, two hours of ground instruction and your books and materials. The examiner is the only significant item outside it, at roughly $800 to $1,000 paid directly to them on the day.

This page shows the arithmetic behind that number, line by line, and what the same hours cost if you buy them one at a time at the retail rate instead. For the rating itself, see multi-engine rating requirements; for where this sits among every other training price we publish, see how much flight school costs.

Package Rate Versus Retail Rate

Every aircraft on our ramp has two published rates and the difference is not a discount gimmick. The retail rate is what you pay to rent the airplane by the hour, pay as you go, with no commitment on either side. The package rate is what the same airplane costs inside a course, where the schedule, the syllabus and the airplane are committed in advance. All rates are wet, meaning fuel is included.

The reason the gap exists is utilization. A twin that sits on the ramp while a pay-as-you-go renter decides whether the weather is good enough still costs us hangar space, insurance, an engine reserve and a maintenance schedule. A twin that is booked for eight hours across a known week earns its keep, and the rate reflects that. This is also why the gap is widest on the most expensive airplanes: the Seminole moves $200 an hour between its two rates, the Cirrus the same, and the Skycatcher only $90.

Why Twin Time Costs What It Costs

Pilots regularly ask why the Seminole is roughly two and a half times the price of a Warrior when it is not two and a half times the airplane. The honest answer is that almost every cost in operating a light twin is doubled or worse.

• Two engines. Two overhauls to reserve for, two sets of cylinders, two oil changes, two sets of magnetos, two starters and two alternators. Engine reserve alone is the single biggest line in a twin's hourly cost.
• Two constant-speed propellers. Feathering propellers are more complex than fixed-pitch units, they have their own overhaul intervals, and they are not cheap.
• Fuel burn. Two 180-horsepower engines burn roughly twice what one 160-horsepower engine burns, and the rate is wet, so that fuel is inside the number you see.
• Retractable landing gear. More moving parts, more inspection, more to go wrong.
• Insurance. Twin hull values and twin liability exposure are in a different bracket, and a training twin flown by pilots who are learning engine-out procedures is priced accordingly.
• Downtime. There is one Seminole. When it is in maintenance, there is no second one earning revenue, and that has to be priced in across the year.

None of that is unique to us. It is why every school in the country charges a large premium for twin time, and why the multi-engine rating is deliberately structured as the shortest course in the professional sequence.

The $5,100, Line By Line

Here is the course priced at our own package rates, as if you were buying each component separately.

The course is $52 less than the sum of its parts, and the books come with it. That is not the interesting comparison. The interesting comparison is the retail one.

What The Same Ten Hours Cost Retail

The difference is $1,812. The Seminole accounts for almost all of it: $200 an hour across eight hours is $1,600 on its own. If you take nothing else from this page, take that. On a twin, the gap between the package rate and the retail rate is wide enough that buying the rating as a course rather than as hours is worth more than a thousand dollars, and it is the reason pilots who try to assemble a multi-engine rating a weekend at a time usually end up paying more for a worse result.

What Sits Outside The Price

Budget realistically at $5,900 to $6,100 all in for a pilot who completes the course in the scheduled hours and pays a $800 to $1,000 examiner fee. That is the number to compare against other schools, and it is the number most quotes leave out.

If You Need More Hours, Or The Ride Does Not Go Your Way

Two honest scenarios, because both happen and neither is in the headline price.

Needing more than eight hours. The eight hours in the package is what most pilots flying the seven-day schedule actually use. Pilots who have not flown in six months, or who are adding multi-engine at commercial tolerances rather than private, sometimes want an extra hour or two. That is $559 an hour all in, and your instructor will tell you it is coming well before the last day rather than on it. Nobody is sent to a checkride that is not going to go well to protect a package price.

A partial or unsatisfactory result. If the practical test does not go your way, the retest covers only the areas of operation that were not satisfactory, which is usually short. What it does cost is a second examiner fee and whatever remedial flying you need. There is no penalty from us. The reason we schedule a mock oral with a second instructor before the ride is that the oral, not the flying, is what catches most multi-engine candidates out, and it is much cheaper to find that out on the Friday.

How To Pay For It

The published plan is $2,500 down and two payments of $1,300. We also run interest-free direct payments over up to twelve months, and Stratus Financial arranges terms up to fifteen years with a soft credit check for pilots financing a longer training path. Details are on our flight training financing page.

Why Two Hours Of It Are In A Simulator

The simulator is not a cost-cutting substitute for the airplane, although it does cost $329 an hour less. It is a better place to practice the two maneuvers you most need and least want to rehearse repeatedly at low altitude: a rejected takeoff, and an engine failure immediately after liftoff. In the Redbird you can fail an engine at fifty feet, mishandle it, freeze the scene and talk about what happened. In the airplane you cannot. Doing that work first means the airplane hours are spent flying rather than being surprised, which is precisely why eight hours is enough.

How It Compares With Our Other Courses

The multi-engine rating is the cheapest rating in the professional sequence and by some distance the fastest. It is the only one measured in days rather than months, and the only one with no knowledge test attached. Full price comparisons across every certificate are on our flight school cost breakdown for Los Angeles.

How To Compare A Quote From Another School

Multi-engine quotes are unusually easy to make look cheap, because the two largest variables are both easy to leave out. Ask every school the same six questions and write the answers down.

1. How many hours in the airplane does the price include, and what happens after that? A quote built on six hours at a low rate is more expensive than a quote built on eight at a higher one if you need eight. Ask for the per-hour overrun figure in writing.
2. Is the instructor included in the aircraft rate, or added? Some schools quote a dry or aircraft-only rate and bill instruction separately. Ours is $449 for the airplane plus $110 for the instructor, both stated.
3. Wet or dry? A dry rate with fuel on top is not comparable to a wet rate, and twin fuel burn is substantial.
4. Is the examiner fee included? It almost never is, anywhere. Ask the number anyway, because examiner fees vary and it is $800 to $1,000 of your budget.
5. Is it a conventional twin or a centerline-thrust twin? A rating earned in a centerline-thrust airplane is issued with a centerline-thrust limitation, and removing it later means another course and another checkride. The Seminole is conventional.
6. Are the instrument tasks included in the checkride? If you hold an instrument rating and they are not, you will be issued a VFR-only multi-engine limitation and pay a second examiner to remove it.

A school that answers all six plainly is quoting you a real number. One that will not put the overrun rate in writing is quoting you a deposit.

Is The Rating Worth $5,100?

It depends entirely on what you are doing with it, and we would rather say that than sell it to everybody.

If you are building a career, it is not optional and it is cheap. Every regional and charter operator flies multi-engine equipment, and 14 CFR 61.159(a) requires 50 hours in the class of airplane for an ATP with a multi-engine rating. Against an $84,000 career path, $5,100 for the rating that gets you into that seat is a rounding error, and doing it early means those 50 hours accumulate over years rather than being bought in a block at $649 an hour later. Our multi-engine time building page sets out what that alternative looks like.

If you are buying into a twin, it is the cheapest part of the decision. Your insurer will want more training than the FAA does, and the rating is the entry ticket to that conversation.

If you fly a single for pleasure twice a month, think harder. A twin is only safer than a single in the hands of a pilot who stays current in it, and staying current in a twin costs real money every year. The rating itself will make you a sharper pilot, which is a genuine benefit, but it is an expensive way to buy that alone. If that is your motivation, a thorough flight review or an instrument rating will do more for your flying per dollar.

Where People Spend More Than They Planned

• Skipping the instrument tasks. A second practical test to remove a VFR-only multi-engine limitation costs another examiner fee and another day in the airplane. Include the tasks the first time.
• Training a weekend at a time. Engine-out handling decays between sessions. Every gap of more than a week costs roughly a warm-up circuit at $559 an hour.
• Arriving unprepared. Ground instruction is $110 an hour, and time spent teaching you the fuel system that you could have read at home is time not spent flying.
• Not asking the examiner fee in advance. It is the one number nobody publishes and it varies. Ask when the ride is booked.
• Booking around a job. A course designed for seven consecutive days and then flown across six weeks is a different, more expensive course. Take the week if you possibly can.

Related Reading

• Multi-engine rating requirements — what 14 CFR 61.63(c) asks for and what the checkride covers.
• Accelerated multi-engine rating — the seven-day schedule that keeps the hours at eight.
• Multi-engine rating in Los Angeles — the local course page.
• How much does flight school cost — every certificate, every rating, one page.
• Flight training financing — payment plans and Stratus Financial.
• Multi-engine time building — what Seminole hours cost once you hold the rating.

Multi-Engine Rating Cost FAQ

How Much Does A Multi-Engine Rating Cost?

Our course is $5,100 and covers eight hours in the Piper Seminole, two hours of full-motion simulator, ten hours of flight instruction, two hours of ground and your materials. Add roughly $800 to $1,000 for the examiner, so budget $5,900 to $6,100 all in.

Why Is The Seminole More Expensive Than A Single?

Two engines, two constant-speed propellers, retractable gear, roughly double the fuel burn and twin-bracket insurance. At the package rate the Seminole is $449 an hour wet against $179 for a Warrior or Skycatcher, and $649 against $269 at retail.

Is The Examiner Fee Included?

No. The designated pilot examiner is independent and is paid directly by you on the day of the practical test, typically $800 to $1,000. Ask for the exact figure when the ride is booked.

Is There A Written Exam Fee?

No. An added class rating requires no FAA knowledge test under 14 CFR 61.63(c), so there is no testing center fee at all for this rating.

What If I Need More Than Eight Hours?

Additional Seminole dual is $559 an hour, made up of $449 for the airplane at the package rate and $110 for the instructor. Most pilots flying the seven-day course finish inside the eight hours.

Can I Pay In Installments?

Yes. The published plan is $2,500 down and two payments of $1,300. Interest-free direct payments over up to twelve months and Stratus Financial over longer terms are both available.

Is It Cheaper To Rent The Twin And Find My Own Instructor?

No. At retail rates the same ten training hours come to $6,912 against $5,100 for the course, a difference of $1,812, and you would still owe the examiner.

Does The Price Include Books?

Yes. Books and materials are included in all of our course packages.

Get A Straight Quote

If you want a figure specific to your logbook, including whether the instrument tasks are worth adding and how many hours we think you will actually need, book a free consultation. It takes about twenty minutes and it costs nothing. Call (818) 330-1318 any day from 9 AM to 9 PM. If you are not a pilot yet, a discovery flight is $229 for 60 minutes and is logged as dual instruction. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406, on Van Nuys Airport.