Fundamentally, there are two (2) ways to get your ME rating. In your plane, and in someone else's plane. I chose the someone else's plane route, and got a conventional ME rating.
There are plusses and minus's. One the plus side for me, my insurance company required ME rating. There was never a plane unavailable issue, the instructors were top notch, and always available. It was a compacted course, over 4-5 days, so it was focused on learning to fly ME. There were no lapses because my last flight was last week. There was no wear and tear on my plane. I thought, and still do, it was the best scenario.
Someone I know did it in their plane, and it took a long time to get the rating, interrupted by having to get a turbo rebuilt. Then there was the issue of trying to find a DPE that could do the checkride in a CLT airplane. The plus to it is that all the time is spent gaining familiarity in the plane you will fly.
Which ever way you go, having a skymaster lends a great deal of comfort to all operations. Oh, and when you have to shut down an engine, it really is a non-event.
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