Originally Posted by
Outwest
I've always said SPIFR is fine...until something goes wrong. In all the years I did training and checking on the 139 ( and others) when faced with an unexpected emergency/failure of a critical system at a critical flight stage the work load increases to a level that goes beyond what most SP's can deal with.
I'm with the FAA on this one.....
Presumably one of the reasons the FAA don’t allow it is that you aren’t required to undertake the same level of training & checking prior to operating the type. One of the mitigation’s under EASA is that the pilots are annually required to demonstrate their competence in handling emergencies, on type, in the single pilot role if SP qualified. I don’t disagree that it may be asking a lot of someone to handle an emergency SP at a critical phase of flight in any complex type, but I can say that it would be all the more difficult if you didn’t have the regular requirement for training and checking in that capacity, and on that type.