Poll: Is FedEx's Single-Pilot Cargo Twin a Good Idea? - AVweb

I have flown cargo in a variety of planes including Caravans, piston twins, and a Saab 340. Also have experience in single pilot certified turbines such as the Piaggio P180 and 500 series Citations. Others have pointed out Caravans are flown single pilot which is true. But until the icing AD that came out in 2006 for the C208, there were almost one pilot per year getting killed because he/she got into icing conditions the plane could not handle. With the icing exception the C208 is a pretty forgiving airplane something some larger twin turbo prop planes are not. The Piaggio has a autofeather system that has a mandatory pretakeoff check to make sure it is working. That plane can be a handful on one engine and will not climb if the autofeather system fails on an engine out situation. Although certified for single pilot ops it is a lot of airplane for one pilot to handle. The Saab is also a handful on one engine when the autocoursen doesn’t work. I can’t imagine flying a Saab 340 single pilot when the s#$*t hits the fan. The 500 series Citations are fairly easy to handle one engine out since the systems and switches are set up for single pilot ops, along with no prop to deal with. Unfortunately the accident record does not reflect that especially when you take insurance costs into account.