Hello!
Originally Posted by
Markos.
Compare a PC12 hourly rate to these new SET. Half of crew expense, ...
Why would that be? Do Piper pilots get paid only 1/2 of Pilatus pilots? And if you refer to single pilot operations then a PC12 can be operated single pilot just like any Piper Malibu. Keep in mind however that single pilot commercial operations are severely constrained by duty timy limitations. 10 hours is the maximum duty time for single pilot, as opposed to 14 hours, extendable to 18 through split duty, for multi crew. A typical day return mission (which is about 80% of what I have been doing in the last 30 years or so) can not be accomplished within a 10 hour duty period, especially not with a slow-ish plane. This is why the second pilot in typical narrow-track operations is generally known as the "flight time extender"...
Anyway, right now the whole concept will not work in these days because there are no pilots on the market. Even airlines are struggling to keep their planes in the air, some (like Eurowings) now offer "welcome gifts" (=20.000 Euro cash bonus) to attract pilots, others (e.g. Helvetic) have raised their maximum age for direct entry pilots beyond 60. I have been in this business for quite some time but have never seen anything like this before. Our operation (bizjets) will soon be left with a single first officer, all others have left for the airlines during the last half year. And the last one remaining is sending out apllications... I now spend plenty of time on the phone with ex-colleagues trying to lure them back into the cockpit because they went back to their pre-flying jobs during the quiet years.
In that situation, where do you think you will find crews for a low-end cheap single-pilot single-engine deathtrap operation?