Are there rules about piloting a twin.............

[Guest United]

engine like a Beech Super King........does the pilot, say he has a commercial rating, have to have a pilot in right seat, assuming that there are NO other passengers??? That is, is there an FAA regulation? or such.Randy Jura, KPDX

[Guest DreamFleet]

In the USA, If the aircraft's max weight is 12,500 pounds or less, there is nothing special needed, you can legally fly it with a PPL, and this applies to the King Air 200. There is no legal need for 2 crew members, or a commercial license for these aircraft. For hire, of course, you will need a commercial license, and otherwise it will be the insurance company that has a lot to say about your qualifications, and if they will even insure you to fly it. Still, a co-pilot is not necessary. I could go out tomorrow with my PPL, buy a King Air, fill the seats with friends and legally fly it. The insurance company would no doubt want me to fly for some number of hours with an experienced King Air pilot in the right seat, and would also want me to attend a formal training program in the aircraft (such as at Flight Safety or Sim Com), but that's the insurance company, not the FAA.;-)Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

[Guest Adverse Yawn]

The vast majority of commercial KingAirs, Cheyennes, etc are rated and operated as single pilot. In Europe, all turboprops require a type rating. Piston engined aircraft below 5700kg only require either of the generic Single Engine Piston or Multi Engine Piston land plane class ratings. The rating system is independant of the license. The CPL license only entitles you get paid for flying. In fact to fly IFR single pilot in europe you need 700hrs total time + 50 hours P1 instrument time.In fact, assuming you could afford

[Guest jrewing]

For completeness, I wanted to add that in the US, turbojet aircraft (even if they weigh less than 12,500 lbs) require a type rating.Other aircraft may be designated by the FAA as requiring a type rating or Letter of Authorization.In the US, some aircraft are certificated as requiring two pilots or requiring a pilot who has single pilot authorization (the pilot must show on his check ride that he is capable of managing the aircraft by himself).John

[Guest]

Of course this depends on type. Some twins can be classified as dual crew only, but mainly these are large ones.Best ask the (previous) owner and/or a local FAA representative.

[Geofa 108]

As Lou mentioned-insurance will probably be the biggest issue.I know a guy at my local airport-pretty experienced, instrument rating etc. that bought a king air. The insurance company deemed him not qualified to fly it-it sat on the ramp -I am not sure what he did.Insurance companies can make it very difficult-and it is getting worse. When I transitioned to my Debonair (a retractable high perf. single)15 years ago from an archerII I only had 160 hours and no retract time-it wasn't a big deal to the insurance company. Now-they would not insure me with those qualifications-if memory serves right-they want 800 total hours, 200 retract time, and 100 hours in type now for the Deb.Made it very interesting when I just trasitioned to a Baron a year ago. Even though I had the qualifications (time,retract time, ME commercial/instrument rating) I didn't have 100 hours in type. A catch 22-isn't it! Luckily, my partner is a mei-so he flew with me for 100 hours -and I got my time that way.Part of the reason despite high fuel costs I went multi-I figure it might be the last chance before insurance companies drive everyone away!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg