Alas...it is time to pay the Piper...

One thing that people tend to forget about flying 1 SP models is, you may not fly them, legally anyway, over 12,500 lbs MTOW. Not that it matters with a straight 500. If you have the CE-500 type rating, you do not need a Single Pilot Waiver to fly a 1 SP. For example, if you convert your 550 to a 551 SP, you go from an aircraft with an MTOW of 13800 (early models), 14600 (later models), down to 12500 MTOW. I almost made this huge mistake with my plane. I dropped it off at Shadin to have the 1 SP Conversion done. As it was being done, a friend of mine told me about the 12500 rule. I have the Heavy V gear mod on my plane which allows me a 16100 MTOW, up from it's stock 15100 MTOW. Though the conversion was done before I could stop it, the paperwork to officially change it over was never turned in. Had I turned in all the paper work to change the model and registration to an S551 SP, it would of cost me 3600 lbs off of my MTOW. With a BOW of 8900 lbs, I would only be able to put 2800 lbs of fuel on board with 4 PAX. Instead of 6000 lbs of fuel, 4 PAX, with 400 lbs to spare for extra stuff. My plane seats 9 + 1. Luckily, the cost of the conversion was not a waste, as many of the SP mods needed to be done to be able to fly it with a Single Pilot Waiver. Even the CJ's, (525's), that are Certified as Single Pilot airplane's, cannot be flown single pilot unless you have that tiny little "s" behind your 525 Type Rating.

 

Thank you. The top picture was landing in Columbus, Nebraska. The bottom picture is sitting on the ramp in Sitka, Alaska. Citations are great short field aircraft. I go into Santa Ynez, Ca. all the time which is 2800 ft. And stop with plenty of room to spare. Though getting in is the easy part. Getting out is where the pucker factor comes in.