Originally Posted by
dera
Passenger carrying ops _under IFR_ is what 135.101 says, not all passenger ops. Plenty of 135 VFR flying with no SIC. 135.105 allows for A015. Nothing mandates the use of autopilot in lieu of SIC (as the Tarsa letter says), but - and here's the important part - FAA has never said if the company has A015, you can use both - an SIC, required by 135.101, AND an autopilot, as allowed in 135.105.
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is, that the SIC in a single pilot ship is much murkier, than PIC as sole manipulator of controls.
Ok. So I didn't add the under IFR ops. But I assume that Boutique isn't going to cancel flights because it's cloudy. I also assume that they crew their airplanes planning for their flight crews to be able to operate IFR legally.
I also assume the FAA has never stepped in and said you can't operate with A015 and an SIC either. At least I've never seen anything. However, what's in the OPSPECs is an authorization of what you can do, not what you can't. I don't have A015 in front of me, but I don't think it says anywhere in there where you CAN't operate with an SIC. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it says if the pilot is rated and the aircraft type allows it with an appropriate autopilot, the operator MAY operate single-pilot. Paraphrasing of course.
I agree it's not explicitly stated, but that needs to be discussed with the company. The best thing would be to ask the FAA for their interpretation on whether or not A015 can be disreguarded if you have an SIC. I haven't ever seen an interpretatoin on that and I'd be interested in what they say. As always, I bet if you asked 2 FSDOs you'd get 2 different answers.
Of course all of this depends on whether the company puts you through single-pilot training and awards you a single pilot type rating.