Title: Single Pilot Jets | Flying
Headings: Single Pilot Jets
Single Pilot Jets
Content: For many people a single pilot in a light business jet is enough. It is understandable why some owners would want to fly their business jets without a copilot. The convenience of taking off when you want, staying as long as you want, and all other aspects of operating your own airplane are at least a little more complicated when you need two pilots. Single-pilot operation is all about flexibility and convenience. There is some cost to be saved by not hiring a copilot, but that's not a big issue. Besides, you almost certainly will pay more in insurance premiums than a qualified copilot would cost to hire. ADVERTISEMENT
Many business jet owners will argue that single-pilot flying is safe, but no sane person would say it is 100 percent as safe as with a well-trained crew of two professional pilots. But in all forms of general aviation flying we trade a small amount of safety potential-a second pilot, or maybe second engine-for convenience and availability. If we didn't make some small compromises on potential safety, we would all be on the airlines because they adhere to the most rigid, and potentially safest, standards. The first company that I know of that attempted to win single-pilot certification for a business jet was Lear Jet with its original Model 23.