How to Save £1000’s on your UK Multi-Engine Instrument Rating

For everything you need to know to pass your UK or EASA Multi-Engine Instrument Rating, check out our online course.

We’re just putting the final touches on this article and it’ll be released shortly. Stay tuned!

In this article, we’ll show you how to use your hour building to save thousands on your Multi-Engine Instrument Rating

At an average cost of £25,000 to £30,000, the multi-engine instrument rating is the single most expensive course for anyone wanting to become a commercial pilot. What most flight schools don’t tell you is that by planning your hour building in advance, you can save thousands on the overall cost of becoming a commercial pilot.

There are 4 steps to this process:

So you’ve finished your PPL

Gain a Restricted Instrument Rating – IR(R)

Hour Build IFR

Do a Competency-Based Instrument Rating

Step 1: So you’ve Finished Your PPL

So you’ve finished your PPL course and passed the test – congratulations!

A typical cockpit DME display

How the DME Works

The aircraft DME sends a signal out on the selected frequency which is received by the ground DME station. The ground station then sends this signal back to the aircraft and the time taken for this process is used to calculate the distance.

Slant Range

The distance given by a DME unit is the straight line distance from the aircraft to the ground station – known as slant range. This straight line distance is longer than the distance over the ground.

So when you are directly overhead a DME ground station, the cockpit equipment will not display zero – it will in fact be equal to your height in nautical miles.

The distance shown on cockpit DME is always the slant range.

When an aircraft is directly overhead a DME station, the cockpit DME display will show the aircraft’s height above the station in nautical miles.

DME Limitations

Line of Sight
Since the signals travel in straight lines, DME only works when the aircraft is in line of sight of the ground station.

No Failure Warning
The DME does not have any failure warning system, but a failure is still obvious to the pilot as the DME will stop displaying the distance.

Combined VOR and DME

VOR and DME ground stations are often combined to form a VOR/DME. This lets the pilot track a radial to a VOR while also knowing their distance from the station, so they can know their exact location (known as a position fix).

For more about the DME, check out this Bold Method article: https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/systems/understanding-dme-on-instrument-approaches-and-vfr-use/