I agree with Propstrike

I hope it isn’t bad etiquette on this forum, but this is a question that gets done more frequently and in more depth over on the FLYER forums (forums.flyer.co.uk). You needn’t join to get the answers you want, the search facility will point you at the many previous threads on the subject.

The requirement to carry a serviceable autopilot for Single-Crew IFR is a feature of US Part 135 ops too. I don’t know whether it matches your experience Wysiwig, but the CAA normally mandates specific recurrency and proficiency checks for pilots engaged in such operations as part of the Ops Manual for the organisation.

Ah forgive me. I misunderstood something that Mrs Moggy said 😉

The fact that Trislanders are approved for single pilot ops under VFR highlights one of the more questionable aspects of the single/multi-crew debate. There is an inbuilt assumption in both the FARs and JAR-OPS1 that piston engined aircraft are easier to operate than turbines.

I would far rather have to get myself out of trouble in a King Air 200 or a Citation than in a Trislander. More levers = more opportunity to screw up 😉

Leider ist meine Metallurgie nicht genug verfeinert für diese Rolle!

Leider glaube ich dass du hier auf dem Holzweg bist.

Then I do not understand what is the point of having non-SP 550 in the first place?

The Citation is, in my opinion, a relatively easy aircraft to fly. However, in the opinion of the FAA the C550 is sufficiently complex to require 2 crew under most commercial operations. In order to expand their market, Cessna set about addressing the individual difficulties that the regulator had pointed out, and in producing the 550SP managed to achieve Single Pilot certification.

Neither aircraft is particularly difficult to fly, but the regulators are necessarily tough when it comes to passenger safety and apply a high hurdle.

The VLJs, from what we see of them so far, look like straight-wing simple-enough jets. This means that by-and-large they will achieve single-crew certification. However, all will be subject to type-rating courses, and the insurers are expected to place significant obstacles in the way of inexperienced owner-pilots getting into the left-hand seat.

This thought is one of the few rays of sunshine illuminating the lives of people like Socata with their TBM700 Turboprop. These old turborprop birds are starting to look very expensive compared to the projected prices of the VLJs, and without hurdles preventing their clients migrating to VLJs, people like Socata would be in real trouble.

All IMHO of course.

Well, of the Citations that fall into that category. I’ve flown the 550 and the 550SP, and the modifications do make the SP (Single Pilot) considerably easier to operate. The nature of these changes is very basic; essentially buttons, selectors and switches that have been placed in a better position.

From a handling point of view, the aircraft is like most other straight-winged aircraft and isn’t particularly difficult to fly. There is no difference in that respect between the 550 and the 550SP.

It is noteworthy that none of the sweptwing Citations are approved for single-crew ops.