AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2018 - T-15

approach fix." Almost all instrument
pilots can file direct and shoot a visual
approach. But throw in a full route
clearance, an approach to minimums,
and a true missed approach and Moss
Cessna Citation M2
said some pilots fall apart. "Most of this
The classic option
training can be done with a good CFII."
The Citation line of jets
is the most prolific in the
Once the pilot has solid instruworld, and the M2 is now the
ment skills, Moss said it comes down
beginning of that product
to the panel and its nuances. If the turline. Thus stepping into an
bine you aspire to has a Garmin, for
M2 is the training for stepexample, get proficient in the Garmin
ping into every other Citation
in production. The M2 is a
before stepping up. Moss said this can
significantly better airplane
be done in a piston, as can checklist
than the Mustang it killed,
discipline, another important skill.
and a worthy successor to
Those checklist, instrument, and avithe loved CJ1 and CJ1+. Like
onics skills transfer to faster, more
other Citations, the M2 will
not completely impress on
capable aircraft.
paper. The Embraer Phenom
Once the pilot has earned the type
100 beats it on speed, cost,
rating,
usually at a simulator cenand efficiency. Not everything
ter
but
occasionally
in the airplane,
is sold on book numbers.
in most cases the insurance company
will require a mentorship period. All
too often the owner picks a buddy who
has experience in the jet and they go fly
around for 25 hours. That's a wasted
training opportunity. A professional
mentor pilot will extend the simulator
training to focus on real-world operations, something not covered in the
type rating courses.
Moss has an approved mentor syllabus that usually lasts six days. In
that time the owner will fly across the
country, focusing mostly on busy airports where he or she will be issued
arrival and departure procedures that
all turbine pilots must be comfortable
handling. Unlike piston departures
that usually just call for heading to
a fix before being cleared as filed, a
turbine arrival or departure generally calls for multiple step-downs
or climb segments, often with
SPEC SHEET
speed restrictions. Because of
that, Moss will spend two or
$4.5 MILLION
three days focusing on vertical
High speed cruise | 404 kt
navigation (VNAV), a critical and
Cost per mile | $3.45
sometimes maddening autopilot
Seats | 7
function. He also drills the basics,
Balanced field length | 3,210 ft
such as short-field and crosswind
Panel | Garmin G3000
landing techniques.
Engines | (2) Williams FJ44-1AP-21,
One of Moss's signature elerated at 1,965 lbst each
ments of the mentoring syllabus
is that he sits in the back. Part

of being a good pilot in command is
the ability to exercise judgment with
weather, air traffic control, and other
safety items. By sitting in the back he
encourages the student to make as
many of the decisions as possible.
SAFETY

The back-to-basics training approach
is grounded in data. Looking at the
history of single-pilot turboprop and
jet accidents, the vast majority can be
attributed to pilot error at the most
basic levels.
At the turboprop level, a surprising number of problems are related
to basic instrument flying. AOPA analyzed single-pilot turbine accidents
between 2005 and 2014 and found
that in turboprops, 20 percent of the
fatal accidents were because of poor
instrument flying skills. Takeoffs
and landings were also problematic.
Landing mishaps accounted for a quarter of all accidents during the 10-year
period. There were also 21 takeoff accidents, 11 of which were fatal. In all,
there were 82 fatal accidents in single-pilot turboprop aircraft between
2005 and 2014, and 220 total accidents.
Single-pilot jet operators were safer
than turboprop pilots, but the problems
were no less basic. Landing accidents,
especially overruns, were a persistent
problem. Of the 35 single-pilot jet accidents during the period, 15 occurred
during landing, by far the biggest portion. Of those 15 accidents, 80 percent
were overruns, indicating that singlepilot jet pilots could use some basic
instruction in speed control, evaluating runway conditions, and adherence
to book specifications.
So, is flying a turbine aircraft safer
than flying a piston, and is flying one
single-pilot as safe as flying with a
crew? The answer to the former is
unquestionably yes. The turboprop
accident rate was 1.54 per 100,000
hours during the period, while the jet
rate was 0.51 per 100,000 hours. For
comparison, the overall fixed-wing
rate was well more than 4 per 100,000.
The question of whether single-pilot flying is as safe as a crew
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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2018

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