Introducing the DA42 Twinstar

Having passed my end of SE phase my reward is to be let loose on one of these beauties. Basically bigger, faster and a whole lot more expensive than anything I have flown to date. Roughly 500,000 quid a piece so I'm going to be trying my hardest not to break one of them. Before CTC actually let me fly one of these for real I have to do a week of multi-engine ground school, sit an exam on the aircrafts systems/speeds/emergency procedures etc.... and fly a few hours on the ground in the safety of the Simulator.


The biggest difference between the Twinstar and other aircraft I have flown in the past is that it has two engines (pretty bloody obvious I know). So the first 2 weeks of my training on this aircraft will be spent learning how to fly the larger, faster and more complex multi-engine type aircraft.

Once I can competently fly the aircraft I will move onto the IFR stage of the Wings course. IFR stands for Instrument Flight Rules and involves flying with reference to your aircraft instruments with very little (or no) reference to the world outside the cockpit. This is the tpye of flying I will be doing everyday with an airline (touchwood) and represents a massive step up in training in terms of difficulty. It's going to be hard work from here on in but I'm still looking forward to the challenge and to getting back to the UK on a permanent basis as soon as possible.

DA42 Twinstar cockpit, sweet as Bro.