For more than forty years, a Cessna Citation that legally needed two pilots could be flown by one, as long as the pilot held the right exemption and endorsement. That ends on 29 September. The FAA has announced that it will stop issuing single-pilot exemptions for the older, transport-category Citations and rescind the ones already out there.

The agency's reasons are blunt. A compliance review found training providers cutting corners and examiners falsifying records. The accident data showed that the big legacy Citations, flown solo, crash at about twice the rate of Citations certified for one pilot. Two fatal accidents in 2025 sealed it.

What the FAA Found

The legacy Citation family is an unusual case. Some variants, the CE-501 and CE-551, are certified under Part 23 and can be flown by one pilot if suitably equipped. Their bigger siblings, the CE-500, CE-550 and CE-560, are certified under Part 25 as transport-category aircraft and legally require two pilots. Since 1984 the FAA has been granting exemptions so owners could fly them solo anyway.

Over time the FAA also began granting exemptions to training providers, which trained, checked and endorsed pilots for single-pilot operation. According to the FAA's notice, a review that began in 2024 found incomplete records, required training done in an advanced aviation training device against the exemption's conditions, and improper checks by designated pilot examiners, including falsified records. Thirteen of the 14 Part 61 exemption holders were denied an extension or had their exemption rescinded. The FAA also terminated the designee authority of examiners involved in falsification.

Then there is the safety data. Reviewing 18 years of CE-500 series accidents, the FAA found that Part 25 aircraft flown by a single pilot were involved in approximately twice the rate of accidents as the Part 23 CE-500, 510 and 525 aircraft flown solo. That undercuts the basic requirement for an exemption: that it keeps an equivalent level of safety.

Two Crashes in Seven Months

The notice names two accidents. On 22 May 2025, a Citation crashed in San Diego's Murphy Canyon neighbourhood, killing six on board and injuring eight people on the ground. It was a single-pilot operation, and the FAA says the pilot had received an improper check six months earlier from an examiner employed by a Part 61 exemption holder.

On 18 December 2025, a Citation crashed at Statesville, North Carolina, killing seven, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family. The FAA says the aircraft was flown without a qualified second-in-command on board. Both accidents are still under investigation, and the NTSB has not yet determined a probable cause for either.

What the exemption allowed: a Citation V climbing to FL450 flown by a single pilot under an FAA exemption, filmed by the YouTube channel Capt. Guido. From 29 September, this flight would need a second qualified pilot.

Owners Are Not Happy

The industry reaction was quick. The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the Citation Jet Pilots association (CJP) accepted the FAA's right to act on safety, but objected to how it was done.

According to NBAA, CJP has filed Freedom of Information Act requests to get the analysis behind the decision. For owners the practical effect is immediate: pilots who hold single-pilot endorsements from these training providers must stop flying solo in aircraft that require two pilots and carry a qualified second-in-command instead. For owner-pilots who flew these jets alone, that means finding and paying a second pilot for every flight.

Citations certified for single-pilot operation, from the Mustang to the CitationJet family, are not affected. The FAA's point is narrower: if an aircraft was certified for two pilots, the exemption system meant to let one pilot fly it safely has, by the agency's own account, stopped working.

Sources: Federal Register (FR Doc. 2026-19843), NBAA, AIN, AvBrief, Wikipedia (2025 San Diego and North Carolina Cessna Citation II crashes)