General Aviation's Vital Statistics


Airplane HangarOf the entire U.S. civilian fleet, 97% are general aviation aircraft used by individuals, corporations, air taxi operators, and commuter airlines. Seventy-five percent of major airline flights are between only 46 big-city airports, and half are shuttles between 21 hub airports. In contrast, general aviation serves 13,000 U.S. airports and thousands more heliports and seaplane facilities.

Every day, general aviation transports blood supplies, vital organs for transplant, and critically ill patients to hospitals and treatment centers. Many pilots volunteer their time and aircraft for humanitarian missions.

Specially equipped general aviation aircraft are used to conduct wildlife surveys, map wetland losses and soil erosion, follow bird migrations, inspect oil and gas pipelines, and fight forest fires.

Light planes and helicopters have revolutionized law enforcement and are used to patrol highways, apprehend suspects, back up ground units, monitor borders, and locate lost children.

The aircraft are used, as well, in airborne traffic reports to television and radio and their millions of commuting listeners. Urban planners and engineers use them to conduct aerial surveys for road and building projects.

Agricultural pilots treat 300 million acres of land a year, applying 65% of all commercial crop protection and planting 90% of the U.S. rice crop, and ranchers use light aircraft to manage herds and grazing lands.

General aviation flies important documents and overnight packages to offices, factories and individuals.

Airlines increasingly rely on general aviation as the source of new career pilots. Of new pilots hired in 1995 by U.S. carriers, 80% were trained in general aviation, not the military.

-- Information provided by General Aviation Manufacturers Association