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6 Answers

Fix wing single engine Add on hour requirements

Asked by: 17167 views , , , ,
FAA Regulations

I am a rotorcraft commerial pilot and wanted to add on a private single engine fixed wing rating. After reviewing the fars in 61.107 and 61.109 I wanted some clarification on the hour requirements. In the first paragrah of 61.109 its says 40 total hours, 20 dual instruction in training pertaining to 61.107 and 10 solo but not single engine airplane specific. It then goes on to break down each time requirement for single engine airplane. But when you add those hrs up its only 22 hours. So my question is do I need 22 hours or 30 hrs when I go to take a check ride? Some reasoning behind your answer would be great. 

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6 Answers



  1. Brian McDonough on Oct 07, 2011

    61.109 says “at least 20 hours of flight training from an authorized instructor and 10 hours of solo flight training in the areas of operation listed in §61.107(b)(1) of this part, and the training must include at least—”
    …and then goes on to say each area of flight training must be in a single engine airplane.
    I’d say you’re looking at least 30hrs for a PPSEL, 20 dual, and 10 solo.
     

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  2. John D. Collins on Oct 07, 2011

    61.109 requires a total of 40 hours of which 20 hours must be dual instruction and 10 hours of solo. The remaining 10 hours can be any mix of dual and solo. 61.109 (a)(1) thru (a)(5) requires that a minimum of 22 hours have to be in a single engine airplane. 12 of the hours must be dual with 3 being required as dual X/c; 3 required as dual night including a cross country of 100 NM and 10 takeoffs and landings to a full stop at an airport; 3 hours of dual instrument instruction; and 3 hours of dual in preparation for the practical test. The solo requirements are a minimum of 10 hours of which 5 hours must be x/c; a long cross country of 150 NM and landings at three airports and one of the airports must be 50 NM from the departure airport; and three takeoffs and full stop landings at a towered airport.
     
    The rational is that much of the training requirements for a private pilot are similar between various categories of aircraft and that credit for meeting the requirements except for the specific 22 hours can be used to meet the overall experience requirements.  As a practical matter, unless you and your instructor carefully manage your flight times, it may be difficult to complete the additional single engine requirements in the minimum 22 hours.

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Oct 19, 2011

    Zeke,
    The 10 solo hours referenced in 61.109 (a)(5) are “single engine specific”.
    “10 hours of solo flight time in a single-engine airplane, consisting of at least…”
     
    The subordinate tasks are specifics which must be accomplished in ASE.  These would be in addition to things like solo practice of takeoffs & landings, stalls, slow flight, etc.  This is how a pilot gains experience and confidence in his ability to fly the airplane without the “safety blanket” provided by an instructor.
     
    John,
    The minimum number of hours is 30.  20 hours of dual flight training and 10 hours of solo flight training, both of which need to address the tasks in 61.107(b)(1).  The other 8 hours of dual not specific to the 12 hours worth of tasks would undoubtedly be spent teaching the “student” how to fly an airplane (T/O & Ldg, stalls, steep turns, ground reference, etc.)

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  4. ken l murphy on Jun 01, 2012

    Has there ever been a plane with a single engine on one wing? I it still flying?

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  5. ken l murphy on Jun 01, 2012

    Is it still flying that is?

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  6. Helikyler on Jul 12, 2012

    I’m also a commercial helicopter pilot w/IFR and CFI looking to do an add-on, private first then commercial and then…? I’ve already had a few hours of instruction in airplanes but informal and only one of them logged. I’m pretty confident I could take a check ride at the minimal hours. But I’m still feeling a little bit confused on the interpretation of these regs… similarly to the comments above, this is how I read 61.109: 

    61.109(a): Does not specify ASEL until the end of this section, but reires 40 hours total time (got that in heli), 20 hours dual (got that in heli), 10 hours solo from 61.107(b)(1) in airplane (need that) – so far, 10 new solo hours required in airplane
    61.109(a)(1): 3 hours x/c in airplane that could also be at night and over 100nm w/10 patterns so it would also satisfy 61.109(a)(2) – so 3 more hours, 13 total
    61.109(a)(3): 3 hours instrument/attitude flying training, so that couldn’t be covered by the above because of landings, etc. so 3 more hours, 16 total
    61.109(a)(4): 3 hours within 2 months of checkride, which the above could all be covered in, no additional hours inherently
    61.109(a)(5) 10 hours of solo mentioned above, 5 need to be x/c with a 150nm trip w/3 landing points with patterns

    The way I figure it, since they are specific to mention ASEL in the other sections, the total time and dual do not all have to be in an airplane, except for those types of training that specifically mention. 
     
    So the total airplane time could be 16 hours for an already-rated pilot in another category.
     
    PS. Mr. Kortokrax, you have a name I could never forget! I knew right away that you were the fellow who helped enlighten many of us on the constraints (and lack thereof) of SFAR 73 on students as passengers. I have used your correspondence with your FSDO for years! It has been saved on my computer for some time. I just wish I had found it before I’d let a former employer screw me out of hundreds of dollars to get current for HIS STUDENT CUSTOMERS on flights that I GOT PAID LESS THAN THE COST OF GETTING CURRENT! Thank you very much for helping this to be cleared up however.

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