The National Business Aviation Association has announced a Second-in-Command Professional Development Program (SIC PDP) tailored for qualifying Part 135 air carrier operations, introducing a structured pathway for co-pilots operating within on-demand charter and air taxi environments. The SIC PDP framework, which has precedent in Part 121 airline operations, allows operators to place pilots in the SIC seat under an approved training and mentorship structure without requiring those pilots to hold a full type rating for the specific aircraft. For Part 135 operators — who frequently fly high-performance turbine and jet equipment with smaller crew pools than major carriers — this represents a meaningful shift in how co-pilot qualification can be structured and documented within FAA-approved programs.
For working pilots and Part 135 certificate holders, the practical implications center on the pilot pipeline and crew qualification flexibility. Under a formally recognized SIC PDP, operators can recruit pilots who meet experience thresholds but have not yet completed full type rating training, integrating them into operations through a supervised development structure. This matters acutely to charter operators and management companies running Part 135 certificates on business jets and turboprops, who have faced sustained pressure to fill right seats amid an industry-wide pilot shortage. The program does not lower safety standards; rather, it creates a supervised, performance-tracked alternative to the traditional type-rating-first hiring model, one that places SICs in structured learning environments while still meeting regulatory airworthiness requirements.
NBAA's involvement signals that the business aviation community is working to institutionalize this pathway at the industry level, not leave it to individual operators to negotiate separately with the FAA through ad hoc program approvals. This matters for Part 135 operators who lack the administrative infrastructure of large regional or mainline carriers — many charter operators run lean fleets and do not have dedicated training departments capable of building a compliant PDP from scratch. An NBAA-backed framework provides a template that reduces the regulatory burden on smaller certificate holders while maintaining the oversight structure the FAA requires for SIC PDPs to be approved.
The broader industry context is one of sustained workforce strain across all segments of commercial aviation. Regional carriers have used SIC PDP structures to address the ATP certificate barrier at the first officer level, and now Part 135 operators are being given a comparable tool calibrated to their operating environment. For pilots early in their turbine careers, the SIC PDP represents a legitimate and structured route into business aviation right seats, particularly relevant as the path from flight instruction or regional flying into charter operations continues to be a focus of workforce development discussions. Corporate flight departments operating under Part 91 and Part 91K are likely to monitor how this program develops, as analogous frameworks could eventually be extended or adapted to other operational categories as the FAA and industry groups continue refining pilot development policy.