Single-Pilot Jet Safety

In the last five years, a new crop of small light jets (I promise not to call them VLJs, or very light jets) has entered the marketplace. Aircraft such as the Cessna Model 510 Mustang, Embraer Phenom 100, and yes, the Eclipse 500 are now out there in the hundreds, and they have carved a successful market niche, albeit not the one envisioned by some observers. These airplanes are designed to be flown by single pilots and its fair to ask whether or not our training and safety model for these airplanes will be up to the task. The record so far looks good but we need to look below the surface for the entire story. We should be looking at a cohort of airplanes that are destined for an excellent safety record, if we assume they will reflect the record of previous turbojet models certified for single-pilot operations.

Key Takeaways:

• While new light jets have a good initial safety record, the article raises concerns that standard training and regulatory models may be insufficient for their new demographic of owner-pilots, who often have less prior jet experience and increasingly fly single-pilot.
• The Eclipse 500 uniquely implemented a rigorous, multi-phase training program, mandated via an Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) limitation, which explicitly covered higher-order pilot skills like risk management beyond standard FAA requirements.
• Current FAA type rating requirements and supervised operating experience (SOE) are deemed inadequate for ensuring safe single-pilot turbojet operation, often lacking comprehensive curricula and failing to address critical higher-order pilot skills.
• The article advocates for training reform that emphasizes higher-order pilot skills (risk management, SRM, automation management) and scenario-based recurrent training to better prepare pilots for single-pilot turbine operations.

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