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. Diamonds in particular are great for training airline cadets, but due to their automated systems and single power levers (amongst other reasons) they are widely recognised amongst GA employers as a poor choice for training for real-world GA jobs.

Ask us about our interest-free payment plans!

“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.

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. 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.

With the industry now in a cyclical slow down, where you train and what aircraft you train on is now more important than ever. Vocational pilot training should provide employable skills and experience, and we are proud to provide our graduates with both. Having a GA industry-relevant training background will be even more important now in the wake of an airline industry slow down, which is typically the time when airline cadetships disappear or, as current cadets are discovering, fail to lead to a job on completion of the training, and competition for GA jobs is intense. We take pride in taking CPL holders from diverse backgrounds and turning them into employable GA industry assets. We are proud that a number 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 & B58). 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.

One of our Barons is equipped with a Garmin glass cockpit 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.

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 26 hours (including flight test)
Sim time around 18 hours
Long briefing around 10 hours

Personalised Training With Proven Results

Over the last few years, around 175 pilots have completed their Instrument Ratings with us. Many of our enrolments are referrals from previous students or their employers.

Our training is conducted efficiently with a maximum of 4 students allowed on the instrument rating course at any one time (student to instructor ratio of 4:2). 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 –

Two low-hour well-equipped Beechcraft Barons, including a B58 that is equipped with a Garmin glass cockpit & digital autopilot, providing valuable industry-relevant experience in real-world charter aircraft. We offer the B58 at a discounted hourly rate to MEIR students (the same rate as the B55). Also, our 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 two Barons (and two sims) so that down time due to unserviceable equipment is less likely.

One glass cockpit Baron 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)

Two IFR-charter experienced course instructors with a combined experience of around 5000 multi-engine IFR instructional hours (one instructor is the course flight examiner – you will train with the same person that does your flight test)

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. Many flight school aircraft are not equipped with an ADF &/or HF.

Limited intakes of 3-4 students per course to maximise time efficiency for students

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 – avoid the VET Loan 20% loading (which turns a $30,000 course into $36,000, plus the out of pocket expenses for flight tests etc) 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 15-20%!) 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

Cost-effective accommodation with courtesy car available (direct jet flights are available to Ballina from Sydney & Melbourne, and we can pick you up from Ballina airport)

We also voluntarily offset our annual Avgas carbon emissions through Greenfleet

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.

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Estimated cost per our syllabus is $21,000 including flight test fees & GST if paid as you go
Interest free payment plans are available - on this plan, the estimated cost is $22,500 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 $25,000 including flight test costs and GST on a pay as you go basis, or $27,000 including flight test costs and GST on our payment plans.

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