AOPA urges FAA to reconsider pulling single-pilot Citation exemptions
AOPA sent a letter to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, urging him to reconsider the agency’s decision to rescind single-pilot exemptions for several popular Cessna Citation models which have commonly been flown by single pilots since the mid-1980s.
The FAA announced the decision in a Federal Register notice that took effect on September 29.
- Model 500—Citation and Citation I
- Model 550—Citation II
- Model S550—Citation S/II
- Model 552, Navy T–47A
- Model 560—Citation V and Citation Ultra
- Model 550—Bravo
- Model 560—Encore
- Model 560—Encore+
These aircraft were certified under FAA Part 25 for two-pilot crews—but the FAA has been granting single-pilot exemptions for them since 1984, and many of these aircraft are regularly flown by single pilots.
The FAA action follows the Dec. 18, 2025, crash of a Cessna 550 Citation II in Statesville, North Carolina, that killed seven people, including owner Greg Biffle, a former NASCAR driver. The airplane was flown by a retired airline pilot who did not hold a single-pilot exemption and was required to have a second qualified pilot in the right seat but did not.
Another high-profile Citation 550 accident on May 22, 2025, involved a pilot with a single-pilot exemption who crashed in San Diego at 3:47 a.m. in thick fog after an all-night flight from the East Coast.
While the NTSB has not issued a final report in either case, the FAA said it began its review of single-pilot exemptions in 2024 and found “numerous instances of noncompliance” with the conditions and limitations under which they were granted, and a much higher number of single-pilot accidents than airplanes with two-pilot crews during the last 18 years.
In the letter, AOPA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs David Boulter said that while “AOPA supports the Agency’s authority to take appropriate action as required by the FAA’s safety management system and its aviation safety mandate, AOPA recommends the agency pause its decision to rescind Citation Jet single pilot exemptions in an all or nothing manner.”
Boulter added, “It makes no sense to punish compliant and safe operators with this order,” and said grouping exemption holders who exceed requirements with non-compliant operators “does not further the FAA’s safety mission and appears to punish operators who meet or exceed FAA’s safety standards.”
In the letter, AOPA asked that the FAA “immediately halt the total denial of the single pilot exemption and only rescind the exemption for operators who fail to meet minimum standards set forth in the exemption,” and urged the agency to work with industry “to evaluate and formulate recommendations in order to move forward together to improve safety.”
“The goal of modern safety systems is to monitor operations and use the data collected to continuously improve safety,” Boulter said. “Any deficiencies in operations under this exemption should have been identified and corrected long before such drastic action, without industry collaboration, was taken.”
The AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI) also questioned the FAA’s conclusions.
“While the FAA can grant and revoke operators' authority to conduct self-examinations of their pilots, it remains the FAA’s responsibility to continue exercising that authority and address operations where noncompliance continues to be an issue,” said Robert Geske, senior manager of safety analysis. “ASI is still working to duplicate the results and conclusions reached by the FAA, but questions the agency’s decision to dramatically shift toward a blanket prohibition approach, given that a number of operators are operating accident-free and routinely exceed the minimum standards established by the administration.”
Citation training centers such as FlightSafety International, Loft, and others have long offered single-pilot training courses that allow Citation pilots to operate these aircraft without a second crew member. Copilots must hold either an aircraft type rating or a less stringent second-in-command qualification.
The FAA action doesn’t affect single-pilot operations in Citations such as the Citation 501 and 551, or the CE-525, which includes the CJ1, M2, CJ2, CJ3, CJ3+, and CJ4, as those aircraft were originally certified as single-pilot aircraft and can continue being operated that way by pilots who have single-pilot type ratings.
AOPA Editor at Large Dave Hirschman contributed to this report.
