Only under 135 or if there is inop equipment which disqualifies single pilot operation.

 

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/...rpretation.pdf

The above and current LOI should answer all of your questions.

 

TBM 850
265 KTAS
Reliable with seats for 5 and plenty of baggage.

 

TBM850 goes A LOT faster then 265 knots.

 

You are correct. I had to go look it up.
320 KTS Max Cruise
260 KTS Long Range.

Been a few years since I have flown it. Lots of fun.

 

Thanks for the answers.
BTW, Part 91, owner flown for personal use.

The new TBM 900 is advertising 340 KTAS. Got to fly a 700 last year. Enjoyable.

But at $3.7M new, you can acquire a very nice used Citation Mustang for just under $2M. I believe even a new Mustang is less than a TBM 900.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the citation mustang fairly useless in terms of carrying a load? I don't know numbers but one pilot who was operating one out of PDX mentioned that they could only carry full fuel plus a duffle bag... That full tank of gas gets you maybe 900-1000 miles???

Personally, I'm NOT a fan of single pilot jets. Especially owner operated. I'm sure there are plenty of owner/operators out there who do their due diligence but for too many it is an extension of their ego. The accident rate in this sector is proof of that fact.

A guy that I used to fly for (an owner) said that the savings in his insurance premiums by having a second pilot justified the second salary. Think of all those benefits you get from a second pair of eyes in the cockpit... When things are fine and dandy chances are single pilot guys will do just fine (I say this as a former piston twin single pilot Cargo dude, I've been there) but when things get really busy and you approach task saturation of your working memory things can get ugly with only 1 person at the controls.

Go spend the money on a PC12 and pay a guy a contract rate to sit in the right seat. The rest of the aviation community will appreciate your due diligence.

 

Mustang: I've flown it a few times, but am not rated. I know a bunch of owners, and they love(d) it. Many of them moved up to the M2 or CJ3, but still speak highly of the Mustang.

Having flown primarily single-pilot, except for a year in a King Air 350, and 2 years in the airlines, I disagree with your assessment. I don't want to type a novel, but single-pilot is not inherently less safe.

As for owner operators, I know a ton of them. And the ones I know are very passionate about it and work hard at it. I also know some that are single-pilot rated, but will hire an IP to fly with them when their proficiency is down, or going to a challenging location. These owners didn't get to the point of owning a jet because they are stupid and lazy. They make very smart decisions.

And you are mentioned the accident rate of single pilot jets: it is very, very low. The Citation fleet is probably the bulk of that category, along with Phenoms and Eclipses.

Although you specified jets, if you consider single-pilot turbines, like the TBM and Meridians, the accident rate for them appears to be much higher. But this is apples and oranges as compared to the jet fleet.

For the record, I am a HUGE fan of single-pilot jets.

 

A single pilot jet isn't inherently unsafe, it's the untrained or unqualified gent in the front makes it that way.

Those same gents can find themselves in the two-man required jets too.

 

I've flown both the Mustang and CJ4 and in my opinion an experienced pilot would have no problem flying the Mustang as SP. IMO, the Mustang is actually easier to fly than most turbo twins and even easier than the TBM850. The only bad things (again, IMO) are the avionics (the G1000 was a POS) and the trash bag "lav."