Two engines. Zero critical engine.
The Piper Seminole is the line on a resume an airline recruiter reads first. Two 180-horsepower Lycomings turning counter-rotating propellers — so neither engine is the critical one, and engine-out training becomes about technique instead of luck. Rated in seven days, accelerated, at Van Nuys.
The twin the airlines read first
Open any regional airline's application and it asks for one number before almost anything else: multi-engine time. The Seminole is the airplane that produces it. It is, by a wide margin, the most common multi-engine trainer in professional flight training — which means when a hiring department sees Seminole time in your logbook, they know exactly what you were taught and how.
What sets it apart from other light twins is the propellers. On most twins, the right engine's descending blade is further from the centreline, so losing the left engine hurts more — that's the critical engine, and it makes half of your engine-out training an exercise in remembering which failure is worse. The Seminole's props are counter-rotating: the left turns clockwise, the right turns counter-clockwise. The asymmetry cancels. Neither engine is critical.
That's not a shortcut — it's a better classroom. Instead of memorising which side is more dangerous, you spend your training hours on what actually matters: identify, verify, feather. Blue line. Rudder into the good engine. Five degrees of bank. The Vmc demonstration, the drift-down, the single-engine approach and the single-engine go-around decision you should never make. Then you do it again on the other side and the technique is identical.
What it flies like
Fast, for a trainer — around 162 knots in cruise, which is 25 knots quicker than the Arrow and enough to make a Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas leg feel routine. Four seats, retractable gear, constant-speed props on both sides, and a Garmin 430 for real IFR work. It's honest, stable and completely unremarkable in normal flight — which is precisely why it's such a good place to practise abnormal flight.
Seven days, one rating
The multi-engine rating is an add-on to a certificate you already hold. There's no FAA knowledge test — just training and a practical test. That's why we run it accelerated over seven days: fly twice a day, keep the muscle memory hot, and take the checkride while the procedures are still sharp. $5,100, one aircraft, one instructor, one week.
One twin, maintained in-house
We operate a single Seminole — N311EF — serviced in-house here at Van Nuys. Twin maintenance is where flight schools quietly cut corners; ours doesn't leave the field.
The spec sheet
Everything that makes the Seminole the multi-engine trainer the industry standardised on.
Read that third cell again: "no critical engine" is not marketing. It is a design property of counter-rotating propellers, and it is the single biggest reason the Seminole is the twin most professional programs train in.
The Seminole at Van Nuys
Blue line, both engines running — and, several times a lesson, one of them deliberately not.
Multi-Engine Rating — $5,100
Seven days. One airplane. One instructor. One checkride.
The multi-engine rating is an add-on to the certificate you already hold — there's no FAA knowledge test, only training and a practical test with a designated examiner. That structure is exactly why an accelerated course works so well here: fly twice a day, keep the engine-out flow in muscle memory, and take the checkride while everything is still sharp instead of stretching it over three months of weekends.
Because the Seminole's propellers counter-rotate, you learn one engine-failure procedure rather than two variants. Identify. Verify. Feather. Blue line, rudder into the good engine, five degrees of bank toward it. Then we fail the other side and nothing about your technique changes — which is precisely how a procedure becomes automatic.
- ✓Accelerated 7-day format — arrive Monday, checkride-ready by the weekend
- ✓Engine-out mastery — identify, verify, feather; drift-down; single-engine approach
- ✓Vmc demonstration and the aerodynamics behind minimum control speed
- ✓Single-engine IFR approaches on the Garmin 430 in real LA airspace
- ✓No FAA written test required for the add-on rating
- ✓Checkride prep and mock oral built into the week
- ✓Natural next step: MEI — get paid to build the multi time airlines want
Piper Seminole · N311EF
Not ready for the full rating?
Fly the twin first. The Multi-Engine Discovery Flight puts you in the left seat of the Seminole with a multi-engine instructor beside you — start both engines, fly it yourself, and find out what 360 horsepower feels like before you commit to a week.
Fly it on the ground first
Our Redbird MCX full-motion simulator reconfigures as a multi-engine airframe — which means engine failures at the worst possible moment can be practised until the response is reflex, without a single second of real-world risk. Vmc, feathering, asymmetric go-arounds and single-engine approaches, on demand, repeatable, at a fraction of twin-engine hourly cost.
Where the Seminole fits in your training
This is a professional-track airplane. Here are the programs that put you in it — and exactly what twin time costs.
Multi-Engine Rating
The accelerated seven-day course, flown entirely in N311EF. Engine-out procedures, Vmc, single-engine approaches and the practical test — no FAA written required for the add-on rating.
Airline Career Program
Private through CFI in one structured path. Multi-engine time in the Seminole is the part of that path an airline recruiter looks at hardest — and it's built into the program, not bolted on.
Multi-Engine Discovery Flight
Left seat of the twin with a multi-engine instructor. Start both engines, fly it yourself over Los Angeles, and see whether a week of accelerated training is for you.
Piper Seminole hourly rate
All rates are wet — fuel for both engines is included, with no surcharge at the end of the flight. Effective March 2026.
Multi-engine instruction is billed at the Advanced CFI rate: $150/hr standard · $120/hr package.
Twin time is the most expensive hour in general aviation, which is exactly why the $5,100 fixed-price rating exists — you know the number before you start. Rates are per aircraft hour and do not include instructor time.
One fleet, designed as a career ladder
Six aircraft types, arranged so each one hands you to the next. The Seminole is step three.
Piper Arrow · N316EF
Retractable gear and a constant-speed prop. The complex endorsement and the FAR 61.129 hours — and the gear discipline that a twin will assume you already have.
Piper Seminole · N311EF
Two 180 hp engines, counter-rotating props, no critical engine. Seven accelerated days from first briefing to multi-engine practical test. The line airlines read first.
Cirrus SR22 Turbo · N422SN
310 turbonormalized horsepower, 215 knots, FL250, Garmin Perspective glass and a CAPS airframe parachute. The flagship — and the airplane many pilots actually go on to buy.
Step 1 is where every logbook starts — Skycatcher, Warrior and DA20, from $179/hr package. See the whole fleet →
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Piper Seminole FAQ
On a conventional twin, both propellers turn the same direction, so the descending blade of one engine sits further from the aircraft centreline than the other. Losing that engine produces the larger yawing moment — it's the critical engine. The Seminole's propellers counter-rotate: the left turns clockwise and the right turns counter-clockwise, so the asymmetry cancels out and neither engine is critical. Your engine-out procedure is identical regardless of which one fails, which makes it far easier to train to reflex.
$5,100, run as an accelerated 7-day course at Van Nuys Airport. You fly twice a day in N311EF with a dedicated multi-engine instructor and take the practical test at the end of the week, while the procedures are still fresh. See the full Multi-Engine Training Program →
No. The multi-engine rating is an add-on to a certificate you already hold, and add-on class ratings do not require a knowledge test — only training with an authorized instructor and a practical test with a designated examiner. That's a large part of why the accelerated format works.
An FAA Private Pilot certificate or higher and a current medical. An instrument rating isn't required, but it's strongly recommended — most pilots pursuing multi time are on a professional track and will want a multi-engine instrument privilege eventually. If you're not a U.S. citizen, you'll need TSA flight-training security approval; we file that with you.
Because every airliner is a multi-engine airplane, and asymmetric-thrust handling is the skill that doesn't transfer from single-engine flying. Regional carrier applications list multi-engine PIC time as a headline number. Seminole time is the most widely recognised version of that number — recruiters know the airplane, the syllabus and the standard behind it.
$649 per hour standard and $449 per hour on the package rate once you're enrolled in a course. Both are wet — fuel for both engines included. Multi-engine instruction is billed at our Advanced CFI rate, $150/hr standard or $120/hr package.
Yes — the Multi-Engine Discovery Flight is $499. You'll sit in the left seat of N311EF with a multi-engine instructor, start both engines, and fly the airplane yourself over Los Angeles. If you enrol within 24 hours, 100% of it credits toward your training. Book a discovery flight →
One — N311EF, our Piper Seminole, maintained in-house at Van Nuys Airport alongside the rest of our 12-aircraft line. Because the accelerated course books the airplane and an instructor for your week, availability is reserved in advance; call us early if you have a fixed window.
Vmc is minimum control speed with the critical engine inoperative — the slowest speed at which you can maintain directional control on one engine. The demonstration teaches you to recognise the onset of a loss of control and recover by reducing power on the operating engine and lowering the nose, rather than fighting it with rudder. It's a required task on the multi-engine practical test and, in our view, the single most valuable manoeuvre in the syllabus.
Usually the MEI — the multi-engine instructor certificate — because it lets you build multi-engine time while being paid for it, which is the fastest legal route to the hour totals regional airlines want. Our Airline Career Program maps that whole progression from zero to airline-ready.
Los Angeles Flight School operates from Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) — 7900 Balboa Blvd. Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406. We're open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, and we serve Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, Canoga Park and the greater Los Angeles area. Call (818) 290-8249.
Give us a week. We'll give you a twin rating.
Seven days in the Piper Seminole is the shortest honest path to the multi-engine time a professional flying career is built on. Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) · Open 7 days, 9 AM – 9 PM.