The Scissortail Brief | September 28, 2026

Bueno dias from a Tacodeli in Austin, TX, and happy Monday, unless you’re a legacy Citation pilot happily bebopping along solo under a single-pilot exemption. Today, the FAA rescinds four decades of single-pilot exemptions for legacy Citations, effective immediately. In other news, Garmin Autoland gets certified on the Pilatus PC-12 PRO, transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asks Congress for another $30 billion for ATC and airport modernization, bringing the total to $42.5 billion, and Canada introduces a U.S. like bonus depreciation.

FAA Rescinds Single-Pilot Exemptions for Legacy Citations

In the biggest Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Foxtrot Alpha Alpha moment to hit our sector in a long time, the FAA issued a policy notice September 24 ending its 40-year practice of granting single-pilot exemptions for transport-category Cessna Citation CE-500-series aircraft, and rescinding the exemptions already in place. The notice publishes in the Federal Register today.

The action covers the Citation and Citation I (500), Citation II (550), Citation S/II (S550), the 552 military variant, and the Citation V, Ultra, Bravo, Encore and Encore+ (560), all Part 25 aircraft that require two pilots by certification but have been flyable single-pilot for decades under exemption. It doesn't affect the Citation 501 and 551, which carry their own Part 23 single-pilot certification basis, or later Citations such as the CJ series, Mustang and Latitude that were certificated for single-pilot operation from the start.

The action covers the Citation and Citation I (500), Citation II (550), Citation S/II (S550), the 552 military variant, and the Citation V, Ultra, Bravo, Encore and Encore+ (560). The difference comes down to certification standards. Part 25 governs transport-category aircraft, the same rulebook used for airliners, and it generally requires a minimum crew of two pilots. Part 23 governs smaller general aviation aircraft and was written with single-pilot operation in mind. The older Citations covered here are Part 25 airplanes, so they require an SIC by certification, but the FAA has allowed them to be flown single-pilot under exemption for decades. The action doesn't touch the Citation 501 and 551, which are Part 23 aircraft with their own approved single-pilot basis, or later Citations such as the CJ series, Mustang and Latitude that were certificated for single-pilot operation from the start.

What this means to you and me is that because a single-pilot logbook endorsement loses its validity once the exemption is rescinded, pilots must transition to two-pilot crew compliance under FAR 91.531 and 91.9. On a positive note, aviators do not need to restart their qualification process completely: a 61.58 proficiency check conducted under the previous exemption remains valid to meet PIC currency for multi-crew operations, though solo flights are no longer permitted.

NBAA and Citation Jet Pilots pushed back jointly on September 25, not on the FAA's authority to act on safety data, but on the scope and speed. NBAA Senior VP Heidi Williams: "The FAA's decision to rescind these exemptions in full, effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register and without direct notice to affected operators, raises serious questions." CJP CEO Rob Balzano said the organization has already filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the underlying safety data: "Our goal is to understand the facts and analysis behind the FAA's actions so we can assess their impact on our members and respond constructively."

From a market perspective, the financial equation for hundreds of legacy Citations shifts overnight. Aircraft previously operating single-pilot must now absorb the cost of an SIC. This extra crew requirement impacts the 500/550/560 fleet across flight utilization, insurance premiums, pilot training, and resale values. Conversely, this shift benefits models with built-in single-pilot certification, such as modern CJs, Phenoms, and HondaJets. This certainly plays into the hands of OEMs looking to push buyers into newer models.

Garmin Autoland Certified on the Pilatus PC-12 PRO

Pilatus announced September 24 that the FAA and EASA have certified Garmin Emergency Autoland, which Pilatus markets as Safety Autoland, on the PC-12 PRO. It's the first member of the PC-12 family to carry the system, and it comes standard on the aircraft going forward.

The system can be activated by any occupant through a dedicated button or engage automatically if it detects the pilot is no longer flying. Once running, it evaluates weather, terrain, fuel remaining and available airports, selects a suitable destination rather than simply the nearest one, communicates with ATC, flies the approach and lands, then shuts down the engine. Garmin Autoland has already been used in a real emergency once before, landing a Beechcraft King Air 200 at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado on December 20, 2025.

Coming within roughly 24 hours of the FAA’s Citation single-pilot ruling, these two developments seem to be linked. As the FAA tightens oversight on older aircraft burdened by compliance issues and higher accident rates, it is concurrently approving advanced technologies that fundamentally reshape the risk profile of single-pilot incapacitation. Given how extensively the PC-12 operates single-pilot across corporate and Part 135 fleets, the integration of Autoland significantly alters the outcome should a pilot become incapacitated in flight.

DOT Seeks Another $30 Billion for ATC and Airport Modernization

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said September 22 that the administration will ask Congress for an additional $30 billion to continue the Brand New Air Traffic Control System modernization effort, on top of the $12.5 billion already appropriated in 2025. The request would bring total funding sought to $42.5 billion, split evenly at $10 billion each for replacing aging control towers, funding telecommunications and ATC technology, and airport infrastructure improvements.

The timing wasn't an accident. Duffy's announcement came one day after the Northeast ATC outage that grounded Teterboro, Newark, Philadelphia, JFK and LaGuardia, and a GAO report published September 14 had already found the FAA making real but incomplete progress on phase one, including replacing roughly half of the system's more than 5,000 copper telecommunications wires with fiber and upgrading about one-sixth of radio sites. GAO also said the FAA doesn't yet have a reliable lifecycle cost estimate or a detailed integrated master schedule for the program.

NBAA endorsed the request. Interim COO Dan Hubbard: the funding would help address outages while improving safety, efficiency and resilience across a system that handles roughly 45,000 flights and 2.9 million passengers on an average day. Congress hasn't approved the request, and the program still faces comparisons to NextGen, the prior multi-decade ATC modernization effort that took longer and cost more than originally promised.

FAA Enforcement Cuts Both Ways: ExcelAire Fined, Aery's $15.7 Million Case Withdrawn

Two FAA civil penalty cases closed out this week in opposite directions.

The FAA proposed a $260,868 civil penalty against ExcelAire LLC on September 22, alleging the company conducted two flights for compensation in August 2025 after its director of operations surrendered ExcelAire's air carrier certificate in June 2025 following the resignation of required management personnel. The agency alleges those flights constituted unauthorized commercial operations without a valid certificate. ExcelAire has 30 days from receiving the notice to respond. The allegations aren't a final adjudication.

The FAA withdrew a proposed $15.7 million civil penalty against Aery Aviation, a Newport News, Virginia, aircraft modification and special-mission company. The agency announced the proposed penalty of $15,744,352.50 on December 22, 2025, alleging Aery installed banner- and target-tow equipment on several Learjets without performing required maintenance or keeping required documentation. According to the FAA, the equipment required the aircraft to be placed in the restricted category, which bars flights over densely populated areas, in congested airways or near passenger airports without a waiver. The FAA alleged Aery failed to obtain restricted-category airworthiness certificates and operated the aircraft on 431 flights between July 2021 and April 2022. It also alleged 945 additional flights with target-tow or electronic-warfare equipment installed without the necessary waivers, most of them near Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. The FAA described the operations as careless or reckless.

Aery said the flights in question were conducted for the U.S. Navy as public aircraft operations and that the FAA's certification theory was incorrect. The company said the FAA's public announcement came more than three years after the flights and without giving Aery an opportunity to respond first. Aery presented flight logs, Navy communications and certification records at an April 7, 2026 informal conference with the FAA, then asked the Secretary of Transportation to review the matter and dismiss the penalty. The FAA withdrew the penalty after Aery elected not to settle. Aery president Scott Beale said he was pleased with the outcome.

Canada's New Depreciation Rule Puts It on Equal Footing With the U.S.

Canada's federal government proposed a measure this week that could reshape aircraft-buying decisions north of the border. Prime Minister Mark Carney's government is calling it the Productivity Super-Deduction, or Productivity Mega Deduction, and it would allow permanent 100% immediate expensing for most depreciable property, business aircraft included, acquired on or after September 15, 2026.

Until now, Canadian aircraft owners deducted value through capital cost allowance, a declining-balance system that historically capped first-year deductions around 25% of an aircraft's value, spreading the rest over many subsequent years even after the 2018 Accelerated Investment Incentive enhancement. The new measure lets a full deduction happen in year one, the same basic mechanism U.S. buyers have had access to under bonus depreciation since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and again under the current law's restoration of 100% bonus depreciation.

The aircraft must be acquired on or after September 15, 2026, and available for use, meaning ready to fly for business rather than sitting in completion or refurbishment; deductions for aircraft not yet ready roll forward to the year they actually enter service. Pre-owned aircraft qualify too, provided the buyer and any related parties didn't previously own the asset and the deal wasn't structured as a tax-deferred rollover, which puts real pre-owned inventory in scope, not just new deliveries.

Sepehr Monfared, who advised on the policy, said the explicit goal was putting Canadian buyers "on an equal footing" with the U.S., and that the government moved further than industry actually asked for. Levaero VP Stan Kuliavas pointed to the scale of the existing investment gap: Canadian firms invested roughly $0.41 in machinery and equipment for every dollar U.S. companies invested in 2023. Monfared expects the policy to drive aircraft market growth in Canada faster than the roughly 20% increase the U.S. saw after its own 100% bonus depreciation took hold, projecting something closer to 10-20% annual growth for the next three or four years.

Fuel: Prices Rise Again

The national average for Jet-A across 3,204 reporting FBOs was $8.26 per gallon as of September 27, according to GlobalAir, up from $8.14 the prior week. The Central region was lowest at $7.44. Alaska was highest at $9.63. The national average for SAF was $10.52 per gallon.

100LL averaged $7.71 per gallon nationally, with the Central region lowest at $7.00 and Alaska highest at $11.61. AirNav's September 25 report put the nationwide 100LL average lower, at $7.22 across 3,583 FBOs, reflecting differences in methodology and reporting periods between the two services.

The Aviation Research Group's September survey of more than 200 FBOs, which includes all taxes and fees, put the monthly Jet-A average at $8.49 per gallon, up 18 cents from August and up $1.96 from a year earlier. The Southwest region recorded the largest monthly increase, up 28 cents. The Western Pacific region recorded the smallest, up 7 cents, though it remains the most expensive at $9.16.

Weather: Heavy Rain Threat Builds Midweek Across Texas

The following is sourced from the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center, issued September 27, and from the NWS Fort Worth/Dallas and Austin/San Antonio forecast offices.

Texas starts the week hot and mostly dry. NWS Fort Worth/Dallas expects temperatures in the 90s Monday and Tuesday, with a few showers and storms possible Monday afternoon but most locations dry. NWS Austin/San Antonio expects most highs in the 90s, with a few spots along the I-35 corridor and the Rio Grande Plains near 100 degrees, and isolated afternoon storms possible over the Edwards Plateau and Hill Country.

Conditions change midweek. NWS Fort Worth/Dallas says confidence is increasing that moisture will combine with an upper-level system to produce widespread rainfall and localized flash flooding across North and Central Texas on Wednesday and Thursday, with the heaviest rainfall expected from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. NWS Austin/San Antonio said rain chances could rise as early as Tuesday night, with higher rain chances and milder temperatures Wednesday through Saturday.

The Weather Prediction Center has a Moderate Risk (level 3 of 4) of excessive rainfall over the Southwest, Great Basin and Central and Southern Rockies on Monday, expanding into the Southern High Plains on Tuesday. A Slight Risk (level 2 of 4) covers the Upper Midwest on Monday and extends into the Central Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley on Tuesday. WPC's medium-range outlook, valid Wednesday through Sunday, calls for a major heavy rain and flooding threat from the south-central to east-central U.S. tied to tropical moisture, with a cutoff low over the Southern Plains producing a multi-day heavy rainfall event.

A cold front is expected to cross North Texas on Friday. NWS Fort Worth/Dallas forecasts lows in the upper 50s to mid 60s and highs from the upper 70s to mid 80s over the weekend, with a 30 to 50 percent chance of lingering showers and lower rainfall totals than midweek.

Along the East Coast, a strong Nor'easter is bringing coastal flooding, rip currents and wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph from New Jersey to Long Island through Monday, with a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall over southern New England.

That's The Brief

The Week in One Sentence: The FAA rescinded 40 years of single-pilot exemptions for legacy Citation CE-500-series jets effective September 29, citing a compliance review that found widespread falsified training records and an 18-year accident study showing double the accident rate for single-pilot Part 25 operations, Garmin Autoland was certified on the Pilatus PC-12 PRO within a day of that decision, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked Congress for another $30 billion in ATC and airport modernization funding to bring total requested funding to $42.5 billion, the FAA proposed a $260,868 penalty against ExcelAire while withdrawing a $15.7 million case against Aery Aviation, and Canada proposed permanent 100% immediate expensing for business aircraft acquired on or after September 15, putting Canadian buyers on equal tax footing with the U.S. for the first time.