If you've toured a CAFS Multi-Engine Rating intro session, you've stood next to RP-C3656 — a Beechcraft Baron 58 with the kind of paint patina that says "this airplane has been doing this longer than you've been alive." It's a fair question to ask why an airline-track school in 2026 still trains on a 1970s-design twin instead of something newer. The honest answer is that the Baron is the closest thing in general aviation to a small jet, and that closeness is exactly what airline interview panels and type-rating instructors are looking for.
What makes a "good" multi-engine trainer
Three properties matter for ME training, and the rest are details:
- Asymmetric handling that punishes sloppy rudder. If losing one engine doesn't materially change the airplane's behaviour, you're not learning multi-engine flying — you're learning to operate a twin that flies like a single. The Baron, with engines spaced ~13 feet apart, has noticeable Vmc behaviour that reinforces correct procedure every flight.
- Performance margins similar to airline operations. A trainer that climbs effortlessly on one engine teaches you nothing about the actual decision an airline pilot makes after a V1 cut on a hot day at high altitude. The Baron 58, fully loaded, single-engine, in tropical air, is honest about its margins.
- Cockpit complexity that maps to airline systems. Two engine controls, two prop controls, two mixture controls, cowl flaps, fuel selectors per side, dual electrical systems — that's the same cognitive shape as managing a jet's two-pylon thrust system. You're rehearsing the workload, not just the maneuver.
What specifically transfers to a 737 type rating
When CAFS cadets eventually arrive at a Boeing 737 type-rating course (typical for Cebu Pacific, PAL, AirAsia first-officer cadets), there are three concepts the instructors expect them to already own:
- "Identify, verify, feather, secure" engine-failure flow. Same five-step memory item used in every airline checklist for an in-flight engine failure. Drilled hundreds of times in the Baron over the ME course.
- Asymmetric V-speed mental model. Vmc, Vyse, blue-line — the "fly the airplane below this speed and you don't have a ceiling, fly above and you do" thinking. Identical concept on the 737 (V1, Vr, V2 with single-engine-out).
- Single-engine landing energy management. Power on the live engine, rudder to keep the nose straight, partial flaps to keep options open. The Baron procedures and the 737 procedures match almost line-for-line.
Type-rating instructors call this "transferable airmanship," and it's the reason a graduate from a Baron-trained ME program reaches first-line release in fewer hours than a graduate from a lighter twin.
you have most of the cognitive shape
of a jet pilot already.
What's actually on the airframe
RP-C3656 is configured for training, not for cruising:
- Six-pack analog primary instruments + dual VOR/ILS + GPS — same gauges, two sides.
- Two Continental IO-520 engines, ~285 HP each, fuel injection.
- Cowl flaps, mixture management, prop synchronization — the full piston-twin systems suite.
- De-icing not equipped (single-engine performance is the priority training factor; ice flying belongs in a separate rating discussion).
- Maintained on a CAAP-approved progressive maintenance program. Logbook and inspection status is part of the public record CAAP keeps on every airframe.
What about newer twins?
Diamond DA42 and Tecnam P2006T are popular newer ME trainers — diesel, glass cockpit, fuel-efficient, attractive to schools as fleet purchases. They're capable airplanes, but they share a property that limits airline-prep value: they're easy to fly single-engine. Climb performance is benign even on one motor. That's safer for the training environment, but it underweights the very thing the rating is supposed to teach. We've talked to airline new-hire instructors who've seen graduates of glass-twin programs arrive at jet ground school and struggle with asymmetric workload because the trainer never demanded it.
The Baron demands it. That's why it's still here.
Where the Baron sits in your training timeline
For modular students, ME comes after CPL — typically a 4–6 week add-on rating once you have the commercial license and time. For cadet-pipeline students, ME is integrated into the second half of the cadet program, sequenced after IR. Either way, the Baron is the end of your single-engine learning and the beginning of your jet-cognition learning. Full ME program details →
And if you're curious what the airframe actually looks like up close, the fleet page has detail photos and operational notes: /training/fleet.