Saying a Bonanza can be safely flown single pilot does not mean that two pilots will not be yet safer. Having a properly trained two-pilot crew that understands and utilizes CRM will virtually always be safer than a single pilot operation. More redundancy, division of labor and more capability when the sh** hits the fan.
Underwriters and actuaries make their decisions based on real loss data. There is a reason single corporate pilot ops get better rates and higher max coverage than owner flown business ops. And two-crew corporate ops have even better rates and higher limits. They ARE safer. I write this as a single pilot owner-flown operator who also employs corporate pilots for owned aircraft.

What about a flight engineer?

What about a flight engineer?

A blogger I like (Doomberg) says, "There are no solutions, only tradeoffs." Flying with one or two pilots is a risk-benefit analysis. Having a second pilot decreases your risk but also decreases your benefit (pilots are expensive, they get sick, have personal problems, etc). Where that settles out is different for everyone.

James' comments in this thread imply that anyone SP'ing a jet is an idiot and should hire pro pilots and stay as a passenger. My (as yet unanswered) question is, assuming you agree that SP'ing a 182 or a Bo is ok but a jet is not, where is the crossover point? Piston twin? SETP? TETP?

yeah I don't see the difference between SP in a Piper Mirage or in my 501sp. Not many Mirage guys pay someone to sit right seat and nobody is attacking them for that.

If I have a medical emergency in my 421 or 501sp it's the same regardless of the type of fuel I put in the plane. Or if I get SD and fly the plane in the ground I don't think the kind of plane matters.

There is the same level of risk as SP in any plane. And there are many cases where two pilots were worse than one. Lots of variables and each situation is different.



I am on some contract pilot FB groups. The bias and ego of many of the contract pilots on there is pretty crazy.

They hate owner pilots and they think they are worth $2K a day no matter what they are doing. My favorite thing is when they all say they are getting paid over $2K a day but all the owners on there say they are paying from $800-1500 a day. Many are full of crap.

Mike

Aviation runs on nothing if not hopes and dreams!

We have a pool of local contractors and non local for our fleet of managed citations. No one charges near $2000 for pic. $800 to $1200 is the range I see.

-The Citation Jet Exchange

The safety benefits of a second pilot are real. It doesn’t matter what kind of plane you are in. Clearly, the pilots need to be well trained and understand how to work as a crew. But given that, having a second pilot means a second set of eyes for traffic, scanning the panel for anomalies, cross-checking the pilot flying for proper performance and assisting in the event of emergency as a team going through the checklists, talking to center while the emergency is being handled etc. Many Fortune 500 companies require that a jet carrying any principal of the company needs to have two pilots. Our corporate flight insurance would have offered double the liability coverage if we agreed to have two of our pilots fly in the King Airs instead of just one. Airlines never operate with solo pilots even though 135 operators often do. I think it is an established fact that having two well trained people up front can help prevent accidents (certainly the companies in the business of knowing the risks [insurance underwriters] feel that way). That much said, we still just send one pilot per plane in our King Airs and I fly my MU-2 alone. Not saying it’s safer (it isn’t) but it is just far more convenient and cost effective. Everything in life has risks. Staying on the ground is safer than flying, but we all choose to fly.

Starting from a single pilot turboprop like I used to fly and that you currently fly, which buys you more safety:

A. Getting a second pilot in the turboprop.

B. Changing to a single pilot jet.

I bet the answer is B though I don't know how one would determine that from the data available. The safety benefits of a jet are quite large.

Obviously, everyone knows that a two pilot jet wins, of course, but that's not the choice here.

About 60% of my flights have a second pilot in my jet. These are folks who just want to SIC and they cost me nothing (other than useful load). Sometimes I even have a third pilot on board (which will be my case this coming Tuesday, I'll be PIC and they will alternate SIC roles for each leg).

Mike C.

James comments on hobby vs pro pilots didn’t have anything to do with cat or class or jugs vs fans, just someone who eat sleeps and breathes aviation, who depends on it to put food on the table, who probably takes more checkrides, who is daily held to a standard of others who don’t know them and are PAYING for the privilege vs a hobby pilot who is just held to their own standard or that of pax and friends who love them, more often than not the pro pilot is going to be better

Having worked for the largest corporate aircraft operator in the world for over 22 years, here’s my opinion on single pilot vs crew and jet vs piston. Here’s how I rank it safest to least safe. From my direct experience and feelings. No data to back this up. Safest with out any doubt crewed pro pilot(me at work) next my jet with another crew from my work. Followed by me single pilot in the jet. I rank me with an unknown non standardized crew below me single pilot.
I fly my jet using the exact same methodology as we do at work with a crew. I just do both jobs or pretend I’m with a new FO. A new trained FO would be better, but alas I don’t have one. When I took my type ride the first time which was done as a crew type I quickly found myself doing everything. This was because after so many years of expecting things a very specific way it was easier for me to just do both jobs rather than see what I got or essentially do IOE during the checkride.
Next down the list is flying my 340 crew and finally my 340 single pilot.
I’d say taking a 1000hr pilot and train them to fly a m500 or a 501. After 100 hours in type I thing the majority would be safer in the 501.

Really there are so many variables to the safety equation it can’t be solved for a single person or situation in a vacuum. Not every pilot is going to be able to operate a jet safely, especially single pilot. A pro jet pilot that isn’t current in a twin piston is not anywhere as safe as a non pro with 1/10th the time but is current in piston twins. And the average pro pilot in a tailwheel will make the YouTube fails compilations video.

If you haven’t ever operated as a professionally trained standardized crew you don’t know how much easier it makes flying. They stuff you see and hear on the YouTube videos is just so far off the mark and not how it is really done. If you are talking as a crew during the takeoff annunciating normal indications it’s a YouTube video. All you will hear from us during TO is PF power set, PM 80…..V1 ….Rotate…Positive Rate….PF gear up. So when I have flown with another non standardized crew and a hear a nonstop verbal barf of a play by play during TO all I want is for them to shut up unless something is abnormal.

So to sum it up I think PW on the 500s are cheaper to operate vs Williams.

Are your logs you flying for yourself or flying the line, there is a big difference


]

Absolutely true and the best post of the thread.

So the 2000 was as a working single pilot?

I find comparing major airlines, or many regional to most 135/91 doesn’t really work with the differences in support and having almost everything done for you

It's a night and day difference that SP operators will only truly appreciate with time in a crew environment. I fly p91 almost exclusively with another pilot. We probably have 200+ hours now. The difference in safety is massive.

You will make fewer smaller mistakes than you would if you're by yourself. When things do go wrong, it becomes so much easier to deal with the issue and still make the best decision in the moment. This is doubly true in complicated airspace or airports. Taxing at an unfamiliar class B airport is stressful SP. With someone to back you up, it becomes way easier. And you are less likely to end up on the wrong taxiway.