Fastest way through commercial?

[DenverPilot8]

I was wondering what people's thoughts are on the fastest way to get through the commercial rating with the Multi-add on and then finally onto the multi time. Once I'm done with the instrument I'm not sure how I want to get the 200-250 hours of flight time. Also have to decide between part 141 or 61. Should I try to split time and how much of that should I split (part 61). There are NO accelerated programs here in Denver. They are all pay by the hour FBO's. I am willing to take vacation time but the most I could swing would be like 2 weeks strait.

[sdfcvoh]

There are going to be places you can rent a block of time with a plane. Usually the bigger the block rented, the better the price. Financially, you would be best off renting the very smallest/least expensive plane you could afford. Another way to really keep costs down would be to find another person that has the same goals (or a few people), and split that time with them. You'll get a ton of hood time that way. Downside is that you'll not get as much solo experience.

[Nihon_Ni]

Have you ever thought about flying gliders? I had about 1200 TT (ASMEL) and 500 dual given when I got a glider rating and I was amazed at how much I learned about flying. (For example, I thought I knew how to use a rudder until I strapped on a glider. Same for off-field landings, micro weather, cloud development, etc, etc.) It will make you a much better pilot no matter what your long-term goals are, and will be another feather in your cap if you're looking towards a career as a pilot. There should be plenty of places close to you where you could learn. I paid about $1200 for my sport rating (4 full days of training and about 7-8 flight hrs), but after that I could fly for $30/hr. The commercial rating would have been another $600, but I didn't need commercial privileges, so for me the sport rating was a perfect fit.

[PatrickCPS]

The choice Part 141 or 61 for you depends on where you are at currently. If you've already started your instrument Part 61, you may as well finish it that way (I"m assuming you have the 50 hours of X-C if you have already started). The main advantage of Part 141 with respect to the instrument rating is the lack of the 50 hour X-C requirement. If you already have that, it's a moot point.

As to getting the multi time, I would get your Private Multi add-on, build time, then take your Multi Comm. This way, all of the hours you fly once you have your PPL Multi are PIC.

While "splitting time" as a safety pilot will save you money, more and more airlines are discounting the time when you apply for a job. To me, I would not want to be applying for a job and showing line after line in my logbook of "safety pilot for John Doe." A few hours here and there during your instrument training is one thing, 50 or 100 hours of it while time building is a completely different story. We have gone one step further at Career Pilot School- students here log zero safety pilot time during the course of their entire program.

[DenverPilot8]

Thanks for the info. As this is a careers track for me I'm willing to dedicate some serious time to this.