General aviation aircraft at Cheb Airport (LKCB)

General aviation (GA) is defined by the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sc ...

(ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of

commercial air transport An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other purposes. However, for statistical purposes ICAO uses a definition of general aviation which includes aerial work. General aviation thus represents the "

private transport Private transport (as opposed to public transport) is the personal or individual use of transportation which are not available for use by the general public, where in theory the user can decide freely on the time and route of transit ('choice ...

" and recreational components of aviation.

Definition

Robinson R22 Beta, Heli Travaux JP6883626

The

(ICAO) defines civil aviation aircraft operations in three categories: General Aviation (GA), Aerial Work (AW) and Commercial Air Transport (CAT). Aerial work operations are separated from general aviation by ICAO by this definition. Aerial work is when an aircraft is used for specialized services such as agriculture, construction, photography, surveying, observation and patrol, search and rescue, and aerial advertisement. However, for statistical purposes ICAO includes aerial work within general aviation, and has proposed officially extending the definition of general aviation to include aerial work, to reflect common usage. The proposed ICAO classification includes instructional flying as part of general aviation (non-aerial-work). The International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA) refers to the category as general aviation/aerial work (GA/AW) to avoid ambiguity. Their definition of general aviation includes: *Corporate aviation: company own-use flight operations *Fractional ownership operations: aircraft operated by a specialized company on behalf of two or more co-owners *Business aviation (or travel): self-flown for business purposes *Personal/private travel: travel for personal reasons/personal transport *Air tourism: self-flown incoming/outgoing tourism *Recreational flying: powered/powerless leisure flying activities *

Air sports The term "air sports" covers a range of aerial activities, including air racing, aerobatics, aeromodelling, hang gliding, human-powered aircraft, parachuting, paragliding and skydiving. Recognized and regulated air sports Many air sports ...

: aerobatics,

air races The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

, competitions, rallies, etc. General aviation thus includes both commercial and

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...

activities. IAOPA's definition of aerial work includes, but is not limited to: * Agricultural flights, including crop dusting * Banner towing *

Aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) * Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art * Aerial sil ...

Medical evacuation Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

Pilot training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

Search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

* Sight seeing flights * Skydiving flights *

Organ transplant Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpo ...

transport flights Commercial air transport includes: * Scheduled air services * Non-scheduled air transport *

Air cargo Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail. Aircraft types Different cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft: * Passenger aircraft use the ...

services *

Air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

operations However, in some countries, air taxi is regarded as being part of GA/AW. Private flights are made in a wide variety of aircraft:

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

and ultra-light aircraft, sport aircraft,

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

business aircraft Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of piston or turboprop or busin ...

(like private jets), gliders and

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. Flights can be carried out under both

visual flight In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...

and

instrument flight In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

rules, and can use

controlled airspace Controlled airspace is airspace of defined dimensions within which air traffic control (ATC) services are provided. The level of control varies with different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace usually imposes higher weather minimums tha ...

with permission. The majority of the world's air traffic falls into the category of general aviation, and most of the world's airports serve GA exclusively. Flying clubs are considered a part of general aviation.

Geography

Europe

In 2003 the

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitorin ...

was established as the central EU regulator, taking over responsibility for legislating airworthiness and environmental regulation from the national authorities.

United Kingdom

Of the 21,000 civil aircraft registered in the U.K., 96 percent are engaged in GA operations, and annually the GA fleet accounts for between 1.25 and 1.35 million hours flown. There are 28,000

private pilot licence A private pilot licence (PPL) or, in the United States, a private pilot certificate, is a type of pilot licence that allows the holder to act as pilot in command of an aircraft privately (not for remuneration). The licence requirements are dete ...

holders, and 10,000 certified glider pilots. Some of the 19,000 pilots who hold professional licences are also engaged in GA activities. GA operates from more than 1,800 airports and landing sites or

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

s, ranging in size from large regional airports to farm strips. GA is regulated by the

Civil Aviation Authority A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register. Role Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...

. The main focus is on standards of airworthiness and pilot licensing, and the objective is to promote high standards of safety.

North America

General aviation is particularly popular in North America, with over 6,300 airports available for public use by pilots of general aviation aircraft (around 5,200 airports in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and over 1,000 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Nav Canada: ''Canada Flight Supplement - Canada and North Atlantic Terminal and Enroute Data'' Nav Canada, 2010.). In comparison, scheduled flights operate from around 560 airports in the U.S. According to the U.S. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, general aviation provides more than one percent of the United States' GDP, accounting for 1.3 million jobs in

professional service Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services, such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, and lawyers require the practitioner to hold profe ...

s and

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

Regulation

Most countries have a

civil aviation authority A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register. Role Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...

that oversees all civil aviation, including general aviation, adhering to the standardized codes of the

(ICAO).

Safety

Aviation accident rate statistics are necessarily estimates. According to the U.S.

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

, general aviation in the United States (excluding charter) suffered 1.31 fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours of flying in 2005, compared to 0.016 for scheduled airline flights. In Canada, recreational flying accounted for 0.7 fatal accidents for every 1000 aircraft, while air taxi accounted for 1.1 fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours. More experienced GA pilots appear generally safer, although the relations between flight hours, accident frequency, and accident rates are complex and often difficult to assess.Knecht, WR (2015)
DOT/FAA/AM-15/3 "Predicting accident rates from general aviation pilot total flight hours"
(Technical Report). . Washington, D.C.: Federal Aviation Administration. A small number of commercial aviation accidents in the United States have involved collisions with general aviation flights, notably

TWA Flight 553 Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 553 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 jet airliner, registration N1063T, operated by Trans World Airlines on March 9, 1967 between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dayton, Ohio. While descending toward Dayton about ...

Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 was a Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727-22 that collided with a twin-engine Cessna 310 on July 19, 1967, over Hendersonville, North Carolina, United States. Both aircraft were destroyed and all passengers and crew were ...

Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 was a regularly scheduled Allegheny Airlines flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to St. Louis, Missouri, with stops in Baltimore, Maryland, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. On September 9, 1969, the air ...

, PSA Flight 182 and Aeroméxico Flight 498.

References

External links

International Aircraft Owners and Pilots Associations

European General Aviation Safety Team (EGAST)
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