“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,” AOPA v-p for regulatory affairs David Boulter wrote to the FAA. “It makes no sense to punish compliant and safe operators with this order.” 

The three associations are asking the FAA to reverse its blanket denial of all single-pilot exemptions and focus on those where operators aren’t complying with the minimum standards in their exemptions.

“The goal of modern safety systems is to monitor operations and use the data collected to continuously improve safety,” Boulter wrote. “Any deficiencies in operations under this exemption should have been identified and corrected long before such drastic action, without industry collaboration, was taken.”

The affected jets are becoming less popular, according to Denise Wilson, founder, president, and sales director of The Jet Agent. While CE-500s were in high demand during the pandemic, OEMs are delivering more new light jets into the market, and preowned 525-series CitationJets have more options for upgrades, so sales of those legacy airplanes have dwindled. At the same time, the engines on the CE-500s are more expensive to maintain, and their avionics offer fewer upgrade paths. “This has just accelerated the inevitable,” she said, with the current owners of these airplanes likely the last.

However, there are avionics upgrades available for these jets, such as JetTech’s Garmin TXi touchscreen displays and GTN GPS navigators.

While much of the conversation online about the FAA’s exemption action is about the cost to hire a qualified second-in-command (SIC) pilot, this isn’t the problem, Wilson explained. “It’s about the freedom to go to the airport and go flying when you want to go flying. It’s just another layer of interruption of the freedom that all of these pilots have had at this point.” She feels that many of these owners are likely to upgrade to a certified single-pilot jet, such as one of the 525 series.

Wilson is hearing from customers trying to decide what to do with their CE-500s. Some are looking at replacing them with a CJ4; one mentioned the possibility of downgrading to a turboprop that doesn’t require a type rating; and another is trying to figure out where to find an SIC to fulfill some urgent trips.

With multiple type ratings and 9,000 hours in airline and business aviation flying, Wilson understands the benefits of a well-trained SIC. However, she said, “I’ve flown with SICs in the past when I was a full-time professional pilot, where the SIC can cause you more problems than flying single-pilot. I’m not a safety expert, but if you read the [accident] reports, these appear to be judgment issues, not pilot skill issues. And how is an SIC who doesn’t know the airplane as well as a PIC [pilot in command] going to help with the judgment issue with the PIC?”

AIN asked the FAA, “If there is such a concern with safety of the relatively few pilots operating Part 25 jets under single-pilot exemptions, why hasn’t the FAA required type ratings for Part 23 turboprops that are far more complex to operate and that have worse safety records?”

The FAA responded: “Part 23 turboprops are certified for single-pilot operations by design, whereas operating a CE-500 with one pilot required an exemption because it was certified for a two-pilot crew. The FAA rescinded the CE-500 exemptions due to widespread noncompliance with exemption conditions and clear safety risks. Changing Part 23 standards would require formal rulemaking.”

One of the accidents cited by the FAA in making its decision to rescind the exemptions took place on Dec. 18, 2025. A Citation II crashed in Statesville, North Carolina, killing all seven aboard, including Nascar driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and two children. While the PIC was type-rated in the CE-500, his type rating included a limitation: “CE-500 second in command required.” The pilot in the right seat of the accident airplane, who did not hold a multi-engine rating or a CE-500 SIC type rating, “was not qualified to perform second-in-command duties per Title 14 CFR part 61.55,” according to the NTSB preliminary report.

AIN asked the FAA whether the PIC held an exemption to operate the Citation II by himself, but the FAA explained that the accident is still under investigation. “We cannot comment on any aspect of an open NTSB-led investigation.”