Single-pilot operations with larger Citation jets banned over safety and compliance concerns

US FAA rescinds long-standing exemption for Part 25 aircraft after reviewing accident rate and oversight weakness.
US regulators are to rescind exemptions allowing single pilots to operate transport-category Cessna Citation business jets, after analysing accident rates and poor compliance with rules.

Several Citation models – among them the 500, 550 and 560 – are certified under Part 25 regulations, requiring two pilots. But others fall under Part 23 and can be flown by a single pilot if suitably equipped.

The US FAA, however, started allowing single-pilot operation of the Part 25 jets more than four decades ago, with the first exemption issued as far back as 1984.

It justified this measure by stating that there was no evidence of a reduction in safety in Part 23 single-pilot operations compared with Part 25 two-pilot operations.

The FAA, as a result, started granting exemptions to training providers – which, in turn, endorsed pilots’ logbooks enabling them to carry out single-pilot operations on jets that otherwise required two pilots.

But analysis of accident rates over the last 18 years has indicated that Citations operated by a single pilot under Part 25 have twice the accident rate of the single-pilot Part 23 models.

“This data undermines the threshold requirement for issuance of an exemption, namely that the relief would provide an equivalent level of safety or result in no adverse impact on safety,” says the FAA, detailing a policy change set to take effect from 29 September.

It highlights continuing investigations into a fatal Cessna S550 accident at San Diego in May last year, in which the jet descended below the approach path and collided with power lines.

Inquiries are also ongoing regarding the fatal Cessna 550 crash at Statesville seven months later. The aircraft struck the ground short of the runway after a low approach while attempting a return to the airport.

But the FAA decision has also been spurred by a compliance review, which commenced two years ago, and which found that training organisations which did not hold exemptions were nevertheless offering training under the exemption of another entity.

“The FAA found numerous instances of non-compliance with the [conditions and limitations] by holders of these exemptions,” it says.

“These acts of non-compliance include incomplete records, conducting required flight training in an advanced aviation training device contrary to the [conditions], and improper checks by designated pilot examiners…that included falsified records.”

The pilot of the jet which crashed at San Diego, it points out, had received an improper check six months before the accident.

This scheme of having the exemption held by the training provider also results in difficulty with safety oversight, because there is “no ongoing involvement” between the exemption holder and the pilots flying the jets, says the FAA.

Pilots are likely to be “unaware” if the training provider’s exemption is terminated or expires, it says. As a result, they might continue to perform single-pilot operations with an endorsement no longer backed by a valid exemption – in breach of regulations.

While the FAA originally believed that the single-pilot exemptions would provide operators with flexibility and reduce economic burdens, the evidence from safety data combined with the weak regulatory structure has prompted it to cease allowing Cessna jets requiring two pilots to be flown by a single pilot.

This measure “is warranted”, the FAA states, adding that the exemptions to training providers “do not provide an equivalent level of safety…and are no longer in the public interest”.

Current exemption holders will be notified that their exemptions are being rescinded, and pilots with the relevant endorsements will be informed that they must cease single-pilot operations accordingly.

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