Multi-engine rating
Adding a class rating to fly aircraft with more than one engine — and the single-engine emergency focus.
The multi-engine rating is a class rating added to your certificate that allows you to act as pilot of airplanes with more than one engine. There's no fixed hour requirement — it's competency-based — but it demands new knowledge and skills.
What it adds: the ability to fly twins, which offer redundancy, more performance and (usually) more capability. Most professional flying eventually requires it.
The core challenge — engine-out: the rating focuses heavily on single-engine operations. A multi-engine airplane that loses one engine doesn't simply fly on the other — it suffers asymmetric thrust, reduced climb, and a critical handling regime. You'll learn VMC (minimum control speed), blue-line best-single-engine-rate-of-climb speed, identifying and securing the failed engine, and the sobering performance math of a heavy twin on one engine at altitude.
Requirements: a practical test demonstrating multi-engine aeronautical knowledge and skill, including engine-out work, to the Airman Certification Standards. It can be added at private, commercial or ATP level (with commensurate standards).
Note: a commercial certificate with only a multi-engine rating (no single-engine) is possible but uncommon. Many pilots add MEI later to instruct in twins.
*Reference and training only — verify current requirements with the FAA.*