Title: Single Pilot Jets | Flying
Headings: Single Pilot Jets
Single Pilot Jets
Content: 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. Bill Lear imagined his speedy little jet as very much a personal airplane, unlike the Gulfstream, JetStar, Hawker 125 and Sabreliner, all true corporate airplanes that the giant airplane companies were delivering in the early 1960s. Maximum certified takeoff weight in the Lear Jet 23 was set at 12,500 pounds so it could qualify under the small aircraft rules. The company did win certification in the small airplane category for the 23, but after FAA flight testing the agency ruled that a second pilot would be required. Following models of the Learjet were certified in the transport category and single-pilot approval has never been awarded, or even requested, as far as I know. When Cessna developed the original Citation 500 in the early 1970s the airplane was approved at a maximum takeoff weight of 11,850 pounds, which qualified for small airplane certification, but it was certified in the transport category and required a crew of two.