Please explain to me why my Citations 500 550 560 all have to be flown with 2 crew ? Yes even the baby 500 I used to fly was stipulated 2 crew and the 501SP and 551SP Have to be flown below 12500 IBS making the 551SP a useless piece of junk as far as carrying anyone or going any distance.
a) the airframe manufacturer has probably not tried to get a "recertification" for a SH 500/550 since the regulators started to learn that flying a Jet is not a miraculous wonder, but EASIER than flying a TP, let alone a piston engine airplane. When that happened, the CJ was already on the marked, why would Cessna make their own then newest airplanes live harder with used C500s doing the same for maybe even less ?
I remember being on my first jet rating, the C500/550/560 series, sitting in the sim and always asking myself " when is the complicated part to happen ? - I had been briefed by the DO how hard the transition from the B200 to 'a real jet' would be... the most stupid statement ever, I think.
b) the avionics of a Phenom 300 or CJ4 can hardly be compared to the ancient roman empire radio stack a C500 sports. Thus situational awareness, flight guidance/planning, warning (EICAS) are way better, the pilot(s) are simply better informed and have less workload. The A/Ps are better, etcetc. I flew a C500 with just a KLN90 and all the rest steam gauges, now compare that to a Proline21 equipped CJ... 9LC has made this point already...
c) actually the C500/550 IS a single pilot airplane, given the location of the important switches. A C500/550. The cojo can control the bleed air knobs for the windshield and what else ? Ah, I now remember it you can un-slew the compass system 2... (thats true for the 1 500 I flew, due to the many different equipment stages the whole series went through, this is sort of an exaggeration, I know)
If that is what you are saying then you are basically saying that if a Captain is incapacitated by collapsing at the controls an FO is incapable of taking over the aircraft to a successful landing?
One of my FIs had a heart attack right after takeoff in a C172 and collapsed onto the wheel and subsequently he and his student died in the crash...
DD: IIRC it was a boom mike, headset mandatory, and an working A/P.