going for my multi instrument commercial add on the 27th of this month, i hear its one of the "easier" check rides, but im seriously doubting that. anyways... just curious to hear how some of your rides went and what the DPE did and did not ask you. Im not so much worried about the flying portion, just the oral, but thats normal i guess.

I remember being grilled on the V-speeds - not so much the actual value, but why they were what they were along with FARs around commercial ops.  

I distinctly recall the examiner telling me I found one of the two landing lights on the aircraft to be burned out on a return flight from an outlying area - was I legal to fly?   What was I going to do?  The correct answer is that it needed to be repaired before I could return, and the practical answer he gave me was that "it probably burned out in flight".  

The flight itself was pretty much flying a twin on one engine, culminating in a partial panel, single engine approach.  

Took my multi in an Apache - in the summer - on a really Hot day and the examiner was a co-owner of the airplane.
Airplane was based out of a 2400' strip. Single engine operations were tested, but they didn't last very long


At the time I had pretty fresh Comm, CFI(A-SEL), CFII(A) and a fair amount of instructing under my belt.  The flying was easy, don't remember any gotchas on the oral.




.  

It was an easy check ride but I messed it up my first time.

I did not understand what the examiner meant when he asked me to do the vmc demo without aileron and I guess I let it bank a little more than he felt comfortable.

The oral was pretty easy, know the vmc items, v speeds, and what makes an engine the critical one.

It's an easy checkride, just know your V-speeds and procedures. The aircraft systems will be important as will knowing how to deal with a critical engine failure even if you're not flying an airplane with one.

Honestly just go have fun.

Easy ride, enjoy it.

Know what Vmc is and how to demonstrate it.

If you keep the ball centered on single engine using your feet aileron input is not required. That is what he was looking for.

It's the easiest ride you'll ever do.    Use your rudder to stick your heading.

It's not that easy of a check ride...IMO none of them are.  

Oral Exam:
* Know what happens to the aircraft aerodynamically when you loose an engine.  Following are factors that cause the airplane to bank & roll towards the dead engine:
- P-factor
- Asymmetric Thrust
- Spiralling slipstream
- Torque  

* Know that a twin engine airplane looses 80% of its climb power when you loose an engine).
* Know why airplanes w large rudders have lower Vmc speeds
* Know effect of center of gravity on Vmc
* know effect of Turbo charging on Vmc speeds
*Know effect of weight on Vmc Speeds
*Know effect of windmilling prop vs feathered props on Vmc
*know effect of landing gear on Vmc
* Know effect of high density altitudes on Vmc
*Know what YOUR plane's Vmc is
* Know systems of your airplane
*know your airplane's Vlo, Vle & the difference
*know what your blue line Speed is
*Know the differences in Vy Vyse Vx Vxse etc and be able to explain the difference
*Know how to calculate accelerate-go & accelerate-stop distances
*know how whether your airplane can continue a go-around after loosing an engine on a hot, humid (high density altitude day)

Flying Portion:
*Make sure your take off brief includes how you will handle emergencies on the ground...loss of engine on the runway, after rotation (w no usable runway etc).
*Expect the examiner to pull a throttle on you during the take off run...(you better stop the plane straight ahead)
*Expect the examiner to jam full left (or right) rudder to simulate a failed engine if you have your hands on the throttle (same as above, stop straight ahead).
*Depending on your V speeds, it might behoove you to not rotate until after passing blue line speed.
*Altitude is better than speed (which is low in this regime anyway).  Bring the gear up ASAP and fly at Vy to put air between your butt and the ground.
* Know how to perform basic maneuvers; slow flight, stalls, steep turns, constant speed/constant rate climbs & descents, etc...all under the hood...with or without both fans turning.
*Expect to loose an engine...like completely, and have to perform an engine re-start.
* Expect to perform Vmc demo & maybe Drag demo (usually for your MEI).
*Expect to perform a single engine precision approach (ILS) to landing.

The system wont let me post it all in one go...

Good Luck

All the above, except you won't "loose" anything; you'll LOSE an engine and effective power.
Sorry- pet peeve- but everything in the above 2 posts is 100% correct- except for loosing-

I took my CMEL in my Aztec and it was a tough ride. Oral was a piece of cake, but flying a PA-28-250 on 1 engine isn't fun at all! Oral was a piece of cake and right along the lines as described above.

Instrument add-on was an ILS on 2 engines and a NDB on 1... examiner was a little bit of a sadist.

The most engines on an airplane that I have flown is six.
When I looked to the left all I could see was engines, when I looked to the right all I could see was copilots.

This right here. The key to passing any oral is to be able to converse casually yet intelligently about the subject matter. Knowledge and confidence. On that oral he'll be very interested in you knowledge of Vmc. He might show interest in any concerns you might have over aircraft that reach stall speed prior to Vmc. That kind of thing. Be able to talk about induced lift and critical engine. Know procedures for you a/c.
Does the twin your flying have accumulators?

Been flying the AN-225?

I can't really think of what else had more than 4 engines off the top of my head...

B-52 has 8 engines.

B-47 if he's an old timer.

XB-48 if he wants me to suck him off.

Oh yeah, that one. Forgot about that one.

Soviet Ground effect vehicle?

Old timer...yes, but not quite that old. Forget not the stalwart, venerable, reliable, trustworthy and strong like the Bull:




This is the "front office" viewed from the cockpit entrance. I have seen as many as 10 guests in there on long trips.

The B-36 had 10 engines

I knew about that one, I just didn't think you were quite THAT old... And besides, the engines are on the back of the wings.

The B-36 was considered to be a bit queer in its day with 6 shoving from behind and 4 blowing. If it were still around today it would be celebrated as a diverse design!

Six turnin' and four burnin'.    Can't imagine how loud that beast must have been on takeoff.

Couldn't put it more eloquently, LOL.  I had the chance to play in the B-36 that now sits at Pima, when it was in Fort Worth.  And I have a copy of the -1 in the book case, quite the machine.  The highlight of my tour, was talking with a pilot, who started on the B-17, flew in Europe at the end of WWII.  He went on to fly the B-29/B-50/B-47/B-36 and retired off the B-52.  Quite the career

Subtle but important difference...you lose approximately 80% of your performance with the loss of an engine in a twin engine aircraft, not 80% of your climb power. You lose half your power. And 80%, again, is an approximation. Depending on the aircraft and the conditions, it can be a little more or less than that.

Oral part is easy.  The multi specific stuff is pretty easy to get a handle on, and you're just applying it to things you already know anyways.

The flying isn't bad either, for the most part.  The easiest part of mine was the single engine instrument approach.  A lot of people get worried about that ahead of time, but it's just an instrument approach with one foot stomped down near the floor.  :-)  Of course, I had it pretty easy being in a Twin Comanche, even with full fuel (and pushing within 100lbs or so of gross) it'll climb at 4500' ASL during the Summer on a single engine (single engine missed approaches and go-arounds are a complete non-event in it).  Not exactly tons of power with those little IO-320s, but awesome (and light) airframe.

The takeoff/landing sequences got kind of rough between a short strip, multiple occurrences of worst case conflicting traffic, and an actual gear failure to retract (I was too quick on the gear up on a go-around and the flaps were still in transit from full to half, apparently the flaps at full disrupt the airflow enough to cause the gear motor to pop the breaker).  Then of course, on the full engine shutdown & restart it didn't want to restart...  Took us several times down the check list before it would fire up again.  So, as always, beware the little stuff.  :-)