Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
As I provided you, with links, the regulation very clearly states what is required. If operated under IFR, a second in command is required. If an approved autopilot is provided, and the certificate holder holds the appropriate Operations Specifications assigned to that certificate holder, then the autopilot may be used in lieu of a SIC. This is not a new regulation. This not not a recent change. This is spelled out very clearly in the regulation, as I posted, as you quoted, and as provided with links to the ecfr.gov website which contains it, and references to the Federal Register sections in which the regulation was published, and the reasons for the regulation, with arguments for and against, clearly explained.
There is a little gotcha to this one. The certificate holder can hold the Operations Specification to use autopilot in lieu of a SIC while operating under IFR, but if the PIC has not received a 135.297(g) signoff, he may not utilize that OpSpec. There are carriers out there that on purpose do not sign their PICs with 135.297(g) during their recurrent training which makes the SIC required, even though the certificate holder does hold the appropriate OpSpec for autopilot in lieu of SIC.