The Federal Aviation Administration has ended single-pilot exemptions for older Cessna Citation CE-500 family jets that were originally certificated for two pilots, forcing affected aircraft back to two-crew operations once the policy takes effect in the Federal Register. The move covers the Citation 500/I, Citation II, Citation S/II, Citation V/Ultra, Citation Bravo and Citation Encore/Encore+, as well as the military T-47A variant.
The FAA moved after a compliance review found widespread noncompliance among exemption holders, including incomplete records and improper or falsified training and checking practices. It also cited accident data indicating that Part 25 CE-500 aircraft flown with one pilot were involved in roughly twice as many accidents as comparable Part 23 Citation models operated single-pilot.
The agency is not changing the type certificates for the aircraft. Instead, it is withdrawing the exemption relief that had allowed qualified pilots to operate them alone, meaning a qualified second-in-command will now be required. The policy is expected to affect a sizeable slice of the business aviation fleet, with one estimate putting the number of impacted US-registered aircraft at about 1,250.