Well it was many, many beers ago, so I may be mistaken. I was 18 at the time, so my mind was not fully developed, and what was developed was focused on scoring with chicks at the beach!

I got my Multi-engine ticket in an Apache with 150's to build time on my way to my Instrument and Commercial, in 1978. I'm pretty sure I had to have 200 to take the IFR checkride.

I know I had to then take my Commercial in both a C172 and the old Apache, otherwise they said I'd only have a Single Engine Commercial! Maybe they were trying to gouge me, or maybe I was so bad they just made ME get to 200 before my Instrument check!

As soon as I turned 23 though, with about 3,000 hours, I took my ATP ride with the FAA, in good old N9166N, my nightly check run ride, the Turbo Commode. I scared the crap out of the FAA guy when I landed just behind a 747 on takeoff at JFK. He was sure we were going to be "Blown Away".

"Ahh relax, I got this."