Simviation Forum - Biggest aircraft certified for single pilot op?

Jan 5^th, 2007 at 6:31pm

Praha Offline
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What is the biggest aircraft that can be certified for single pilot operation? I know that the King Air 350 can be certified under provisions of FAR Part 23's Commuter category rules, which allow single-pilot operations in propeller-driven airplanes weighing more than 12,500 pounds and having fewer than 10 passenger seats. Order more than nine seats and the 350 must have two pilots at the helm. Does this mean you could certify somthing like an ATR 72 for single pilot operation provided it only had nine seats or less?! Surely there is an upper weight limit.

I specificly want to know about older aircraft such as the Howard 500 or a DC-3. I realise these are are very much hands on aircraft because of their age and you would be glad of a co-pilot to lighten the work load, but I would like to know could you A; physically fly somthing like a DC-3 on your own, B; could you do it legally, and C; would it require installing a lot of modern avionics?

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Reply #1 - Jan 5^th, 2007 at 6:53pm

Jakemaster Ex Member

Praha wrote on Jan 5^th, 2007 at 6:31pm:

What is the biggest aircraft that can be certified for single pilot operation? I know that the King Air 350 can be certified under provisions of FAR Part 23's Commuter category rules, which allow single-pilot operations in propeller-driven airplanes weighing more than 12,500 pounds and having fewer than 10 passenger seats. Order more than nine seats and the 350 must have two pilots at the helm. Does this mean you could certify somthing like an ATR 72 for single pilot operation provided it only had nine seats or less?! Surely there is an upper weight limit.

I specificly want to know about older aircraft such as the Howard 500 or a DC-3. I realise these are are very much hands on aircraft because of their age and you would be glad of a co-pilot to lighten the work load, but I would like to know could you A; physically fly somthing like a DC-3 on your own, B; could you do it legally, and C; would it require installing a lot of modern avionics?

Flying a DC-3 alone would be POSSIBLE, but very very difficult and inadvisable. One major problem is the location of certain switches, for example, the cowl flaps controls for the DC-3 are next to the copilot underneath the window, so for a pilot to operate them alone would involve reaching all the way over to them and turning the knobs.

Some private jets have solo pilot ratings, like some of the smaller Cessna jets.

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Reply #2 - Jan 5^th, 2007 at 7:01pm

Woodlouse2002 Offline
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The WWII RAF heavy bombers could be flown, and were flown with a single pilot. On operations the flight engineer could take over if circumstances required.

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Reply #3 - Jan 6^th, 2007 at 6:04am