Multi-Engine Instrument Rating
(previously known as Multi-Engine Command Instrument Rating, or MECIR)

Complete your Multi-Engine Instrument Rating in 3-4 weeks on our Beechcraft B55 & B58 Barons at a similar cost to a less useful training twin. Have you ever seen a job ad on AFAP that asks for Diamond, Duchess, Seminole or Seneca time? We haven’t, but we’ve seen plenty that ask for Baron time. We encourage potential students to contact GA employers to find out what they recommend as an MEIR training aircraft for their prospective or current employees – the answer is unlikely to be one of those four. Also ask these employers which training organisation they recommend for MEA/MEIR training – we are fortunate to have strong professional relationships with many real world GA & even airline employers.

Our three Barons are also well-equipped, well-presented, company-owned (and therefore we have complete control over their availability and aspects such as maintenance standards and upgrades) and competitively priced examples of these popular charter machines.

“You guys deliver a great product”, Ben Wyndham, CEO & Chief Pilot, Airspeed Aviation (Ben has employed three of our previous students into his multi-engine IFR charter operation).

“Couldn’t recommend this course any more. Professional instructors, efficient training and wonderful aircraft. One of the best aviation experiences of my life”, Tim Stott, FAST Aviation MEIR graduate, December 2021

Many of our MEIR course graduates are now flying for airlines & GA operators all over the world – take a look at our Past Student Achievements page. Our graduates are now working for operators including Qantas Mainline, Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Alliance, Qantaslink, Air North, REX, Link Airways, National Jet Express, RFDS, and also many of the US-based jet operators (e.g. Kallita, Skywest, Jetblue).

Unlike many flight training organisations that rely on paid advertising and prolific social media posts to maintain interest in their business, we are proud that our reputation and word of mouth referrals keep us fully booked and busy.

We work as a collegiate group of instructors and examiners, and we consider and treat our students as our industry colleagues. Our students become part of our team while they are training with us. There are no epaulettes, no egos, and none of the other hierarchical distinctions between staff and students (and often between staff and other staff) that you will see at many schools.

Unlike many instructors that have never flown paying passengers on a commercial operation, all of our instructors have real world commercial experience outside of a flight school environment and all have been trained within our own training system. As we are very focused in the scope of training we offer, we are able to provide very standardised, consistent and proven training while at the same time allowing our students to benefit from exposure to a breadth of real industry experience.

We are fortunate in that the legitimacy of our training has been industry-recognised, and we are often contacted by GA employers from NSW, QLD and the NT when they have pilot vacancies to fill. Many of our graduates now work for the companies that contact us (some in Chief Pilot and other management, and therefore recruiting, roles). Like most opportunities in aviation, it will always come down to being in the right place at the right time with the right personality and the right attitude, and also the right aircraft types in your logbook.

Vocational pilot training should provide employable skills and experience, and we are proud to provide our graduates with both. We take pride in taking CPL holders from diverse backgrounds and turning them into employable GA industry assets. We are proud that many of our graduates have progressed quickly through to senior GA & airline pilot jobs.

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IFR training by current IFR charter pilots
We teach what we do

The FAST Aviation Instrument Rating syllabus covers all navigation aids and IFR procedures, including NDB & 3D approaches. All of the flight training is conducted in the Barons (B55 & B58s). Rather than flying short sequences to the same aerodromes inside a bubble with a 100 nm or smaller radius, with a view to preparing students for real world IFR charter, our syllabus includes longer trips that are similar to line charter flights, operating the aircraft using real world commercial techniques. As one example, how often do we really want to do a sector entry to enter an approach procedure in the real world? Of course we teach you how to do these, but we also show you how to avoid these to maximise efficiency.

We also take the opportunity to fly in the sorts of weather that an IFR charter pilot would be reasonably expected to operate in (e.g. a TEMPO with thunderstorms doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t fly, it means that you carry holding fuel or an alternate and manage the weather threats using all of the available weather data sources that are available in a typical GA charter environment).

Students will also learn how to manage large-bore fuel-injected piston engines (the same engines used in real-world commercial GA) using real world techniques such as lean-of-peak mixture settings.

Two of our Barons are equipped with Garmin glass cockpits while the other is fitted with a traditional analogue cockpit. In our opinion, Instrument Rating graduates bound for GA jobs should have exposure to both digital and analogue cockpits.

Our Barons are also equipped with HF radio, and students are given an opportunity to use them in IFR operations.

Our Barons are also fitted with fully functioning autopilots, and our students are taught to use them effectively. While hand flying of instrument procedures is a key skill, the effective and appropriate use of automation is also an important aspect of Instrument Rating training as an autopilot is a key piece of equipment required for real world commercial IFR flying. If you hear that a school makes their students hand fly all of their IFR flights this is probably because the aircraft are flight school training aircraft, not real world charter aircraft, and don’t have functioning autopilots as the operator isn’t required to repair or replace them in a flight training environment.

We also operate at night into aerodromes with very low intensity runway lighting, minimal surrounding lighting and no visual slope guidance systems, providing students with maximal exposure to the real world challenges of IFR charter.

Beechcraft Baron time (including B58) around 20 hours including flight test (26 hours if combined with MEA Class Rating)
Sim time around 18 hours
Long briefing around 10 hours

Personalised Training With Proven Results

Over the last 6-7 years, over 270 pilots have completed their Instrument Ratings with us. Most of our enrolments are word-of-mouth referrals from previous students or their employers.

Our training is conducted efficiently in small groups of 3-4 students. With IREX theory already completed, the course is completed in 3-4 weeks. Take a look at our Past Student Achievements page  – we take great pride in improving the employability of our students and seeing them succeed in our industry.

Past Student Achievements

Why choose us for your MEIR training?

We offer –

Three low-hour well-equipped Beechcraft Barons, including two B58s that are equipped with a Garmin glass cockpits & Garmin digital autopilots, providing valuable industry-relevant experience in real-world charter aircraft. We offer the B58s at a discounted hourly rate to MEIR students (the same rate as the B55). Also, our three Baron’s are company owned and not cross hired (how many people have lost their training aeroplane mid course when a cross-hired aeroplane has been sold or taken away?). We also benefit from deliberate equipment redundancy with three Barons (and two sims) so that down time due to unserviceable equipment is less likely. We also do not inconvenience our training clients by making them wait while their only training aircraft is taken away on charters!

Two glass cockpit Barons and one analogue cockpit Baron, so that students have exposure to both digital and analogue cockpits.

Two CASA-approved synthetic training devices (these sims are configured as Barons, with similar avionics and the same checklists as our aeroplanes)

Six IFR-charter experienced course instructors on staff – three of these instructors are MEA Class Rating & Instrument Rating flight examiners so you will train with the same examiners that conduct your flight tests. All instructors have at least 1500 hours total time and hundreds/thousands of hours of ME-IFR time. Four of our instructors are Grade 1 instructors with over 5,000 hours of flight instruction experience each.

3-4 week course (including MEA Class Rating if required) covering all instrument approach procedures and navaids. Yes we still teach NDB – many people still turn up to pre-employment sim checks and are asked to do an NDB approach (or a VOR approach using an RMI needle). Our students are also provided with experience in the use of HF radio, and are trained on the appropriate and effective use of automation in the IFR setting. Many flight school aircraft are not equipped with an ADF, HF and/or functioning autopilot.

Limited intakes of 3-4 students per course with six ME-IFR instructors to maximise time efficiency for students. Many schools have one ME-IFR instructor (and one sim and aircraft) running courses with 10 or more students at a time!

Online Learning Management System (LMS) – students are given free access to our LMS on enrolment, and they are able to undertake significant preparatory work at home prior to starting with us. The LMS includes an online IREX theory course with practice exam questions

Company-funded interest-free payment plans are available in limited numbers (first in first served) – avoid the VET Loan 20% loading (which turns a $40,000 course into $48,000, plus the out of pocket expenses for flight tests and additional training etc), which is then increased further by being indexed to inflation (currently around 7% per year), and avoid the horror stories that seem to be endemic to this scheme. You can also avoid the other high interest student loan schemes (with annual interest rates of 20+%!) that some schools are involved with. We have been offering these plans since 2017, and over 100 pilots have taken advantage of them so far. There is no industry demand or requirement for Diploma qualifications to gain employment as a pilot, and as such these courses exist only to provide access to VET loans. We can offer a more time and cost effective alternative!

Comfortable and free accommodation with courtesy car available (direct jet flights are available to Ballina from Sydney & Melbourne)

We also voluntarily offset our annual Avgas carbon emissions through Greenfleet

Click here to learn about some of the myths you might have heard from your CPL flight school!

Invest In Your Career

The course estimate below includes all briefings, simulator & flight training sequences per the course syllabus, and flight testing costs. It assumes that the candidate holds a CPL and as such has at least 10 hours of dual IF time (PPL candidates with less IF hours may require more training with more cost), as well as at least 50 hours of solo cross country time and 1 hour of solo night circuit time. The course is competency-based and as such additional training may be required by some students to achieve competency.

Hourly training rates can be found at the link below.

CLICK HERE FOR HOURLY RATES

Estimated cost per our syllabus is $25,000 including flight test fees & GST if paid as you go.
Interest free payment plans are available in limited numbers - on this plan, the estimated cost is $28,000 including GST

Need More Training?

By combining the Instrument Rating with the Multi-Engine Class Rating, the total cost can be up to $3000 less compared with completing the qualifications separately. While these courses are competency based and as such additional training may be required by some students, the cost for the combined MEA Class Rating & Instrument Rating (MEA) per our syllabus generally comes out at around $29,000 including flight test costs and GST on a pay as you go basis, or $33,000 including flight test costs and GST on our payment plans.

These estimates remain valid as of 9/3/24 and are subject to change.

Instrument Rating training at Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.