Single Pilot Jet Ops.

C650CPT

C650CPT

Well-Known Member
I had the opportunity to participate in an industry safety meeting this week in DC concerning the new generation "Very Light Jets" that are due out soon where an owner / operator can be zooming around in a moderately high performance jet aircraft.

My question is do you think this is good for avaition or are we possibly setting ourselves up for problems.

Initially the industry thinks that the jets will be flown by professioanl flight crews but will eventually be predominatley flown by business owners / pilots.

Comments ?
 
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I had the opportunity to participate in an industry safety meeting this week in DC concerning the new generation "Very Light Jets" that are due out soon where an owner / operator can be zooming around in a moderately high performance jet aircraft.

My question is do you think this is good for avaition or are we possibly setting ourselves up for problems.



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I fly single-pilot everywhwere.
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I know, I know.....unregard me.........
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Seriously, though, it depends what kind of trainng is required and how ergonomically friendly the aircraft would be. Most of the business jets out there not only fly with two pilots by regulation, but are also designed in a way that would make single-pilot ops not very user friendly. But I think the concept could be accomplished safely.

So the doctors and lawyers are going to "trade-up" on the V35 Bonanzas now?

Edit: Add in also the insurance question that 150J mentioned in his post below. Excellent point.
 
I agree with MikeD - training will be the determinant. I imagine insurance companies will have a field trip on this trend...imagine all the LOAs!

New Doctor-Killers, though...

J.
 
It was impressive at this meeting, the industry was well represented to include the insuarance companies and the FAA. The premise was that it is going to happen so how can we best provide for safety and quality of training. It is very involved but it is fair to say the insurance companies will have the last word. The FAA was concerned with defining minimum standards, but as the commercial says who wants minimum coverage. The manufacturers in concert with the insurance companies are really working hard to provide for quality of training to a proficiency standard. No two customers will receive the same quote for training as each customer will require a tailored training syllabus. I still feel that there will be a percentage of Dr.s / Lawyer types that will get in over their head. I'm also content with a two crew member concept, I believe it is the single biggest safety multiplier.

Mike I knew you'd chime in, you my friend are the exception to the rule. If the civilians would operate with the same risk management tools and "supervision" with a base of training then I think it would be safer for the industry. There are orders on the books right now for people who don't have even a student pilots license, the idea is for the manufacturere to train them from square one and jump them from a C-182 to a jet aircraft. I reserve my opionion.
 
I made a thread about this and ended up getting flamed, I'll get a link in a second. I think they'll be the next V-tails and Malibus.
 
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There are orders on the books right now for people who don't have even a student pilots license, the idea is for the manufacturere to train them from square one and jump them from a C-182 to a jet aircraft. I reserve my opionion.

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You ever remember the F-86 in Sacremento being flown by the pilot that didn't have much training in the jet? Was taking off out of Executive, rotated early, never got airborne and overran the runway, through the perimeter fence and into a Farrell's ice cream parlour killing about 12? Caused a real crackdown on the LOA process.
 
Yes
The manufacturers want to play a more specific role in the issueance of these rateings, to limit their liability. They want it to become more subjective in qaulifing a pilot to act as a single pilot, I'm not sure how this is going to work. Remember if you get a type rateing right now lets say in my 650 the school house ie: flight safety, knows that you are most likely not going to go out the next day and act as captain, they expect you will be mentored by a company senior pilot, but with these single pilot rateings that is not going to be the case, therefore they want to "control" who is going to expose them to the liability. It is a major shift in the industry, even thogh we've had single pilot jets for a while.
 
Me to. I made the comment that with what they were proposing a pilot would have to check in with his insuarance underwriter and mentor pilot more often than if he had a probation officer.
 
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I still feel that there will be a percentage of Dr.s / Lawyer types that will get in over their head.

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They get in over their heads now. The bottom line, I think, is that the only difference between a pilot who doesn't stay proficient in a C-152 vs. an Eclipse or a Citation Mustang is simply the amount of time it takes to kill themselves. In other words, regardless of the safety training etc. it all comes down to the pilot and how dedicated they are to staying proficient.

Unfortunately, you can't protect the stupid from themselves.
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There is an article in this months AOPA that talks about a guy/company trading up to a jet from a PC-12. From the article he was very cautious about the buying. He a FBO/Broker handle his purchase. He also had the do what they call a risk assetment that made the insurance company happy. Pretty good article but we all know that some of the folks buying will not but that careful and cautious. I got a feeling that quite a few folks are going to get way in over their heads.
 
I had the chance to fly our CJ a couple of weeks ago, and that was quite a wake-up call. I definately wouldn't call the CJ an "animal" by any means, but it is much different from a Baron or even King Air. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable in single-pilot jet for quite awhile and I've got a feeling that a lot of the doctors/lawyers who buy/fly single-pilot jets will have more ego than decision making skills.
 
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I've got a feeling that a lot of the doctors/lawyers who buy/fly single-pilot jets will have more ego than decision making skills.

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even the military pilots?
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I've got a feeling that a lot of the doctors/lawyers who buy/fly single-pilot jets will have more ego than decision making skills.

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even the military pilots?
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Are there a lot of doctor/lawyer military pilots?
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I guess you can be the exception
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btw, I watched a program on the A-10 the other day on The History Channel (I think)...pretty interesting!
 
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I've got a feeling that a lot of the doctors/lawyers who buy/fly single-pilot jets will have more ego than decision making skills.

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even the military pilots?
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Are there a lot of doctor/lawyer military pilots?
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There'a actually one or two pilot/flight surgeons in the AF. Now THAT's a dangerous combination of ego and inexperience in one way or another!
 
What scares you more ... the new Dr. who says ... based on my experience or the new pilot who says ... watch this.

Jim
 
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