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BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2001

General Aviation Profile

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Financial	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Expenditures ($ millions)
Aircraft^j	202	339	2,853	3,398	3,910	4,260	^R5,298	7,174	^R9,573	11,262
Operating costs	693	1,696	5,200	^R6,509	^R5,422	^R6,119	^R6,307	^R6,623	^R6,799	6,291
Total	895	2,035	8,053	^R9,907	^R9,332	^R10,379	^R11,605	^R13,797	^R16,372	17,553

Inventory	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Number of active aircraft by primary use
Corporate^k	N	6,835	14,860	10,100	9,400	9,800	9,300	10,411	11,250	10,804
Business	N	26,900	49,391	33,100	26,500	26,200	28,200	27,716	32,611	24,543
Instructional	N	10,727	14,862	18,600	15,000	14,800	14,300	14,663	11,375	16,081
Personal	N	65,398	96,222	112,600	102,500	109,300	109,600	115,630	124,347	147,085
Aerial application	N	5,455	7,294	6,200	4,300	5,100	5,400	4,858	4,550	4,254
Aerial observation	N	N	N	4,900	5,100	4,700	3,200	3,311	3,242	3,240
External load	N	N	N	N	100	200	400	186	313	190
Other work^a	N	2,054	2,813	1,400	1,200	1,100	1,100	579	1,116	2,363
Air taxi/air tours^b	N	N	N	5,800	3,800	4,100	3,900	4,948	5,190	4,569
Sight seeing^c	N	N	N	N	1,300	900	900	677	679	832
Other^h	N	8,249	17,045	4,100	4,200	6,300	6,700	5,250	6,010	1,200
Public use	N	N	N	N	N	N	4,200	4,130	4,029	4,138
Total	76,549	131,743	211,045	196,800	172,400	188,100	191,100	192,400	204,710	219,464

Performance	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Number of flight hours by actual use (thousands)
Corporate^m	N	N	5,332	2,913	2,486	2,869	2,718	2,878	3,213	3,616
Business	^m5,699	^m7,204	8,434	4,417	3,012	3,191	3,152	3,006	3,523	3,598
Instructional	1,828	6,791	5,748	7,244	4,156	4,106	4,425	4,956	3,961	5,893
Personal	3,172	6,896	8,894	9,276	8,248	9,320	8,893	9,644	9,781	11,294
Aerial application	N	N	2,044	1,872	1,364	1,557	1,787	1,562	1,306	1,415
Aerial observation	N	N	N	1,745	1,746	1,385	1,036	1,261	812	1,243
External load	N	N	N	N	135	118	203	112	153	128
Other work^a	N	N	1,053	572	241	268	262	139	286	613
Air taxi/air tours^b	N	N	N	2,249	1,545	1,527	1,773	2,120	2,583	2,043
Sight seeing^c	N	N	N	N	309	206	186	127	169	220
Other^h	2,422	5,139	4,925	475	622	1,121	644	819	940	581
Public use^d	N	N	N	N	N	N	1,021	1,096	1,373	1,111
Total	13,121	26,030	36,430	30,763	24,092	25,667	26,100	27,713	28,100	31,756
Vehicle-miles^e (millions)	^m1,769	^m3,207	^m5,204	^m4,548	^m3,358	^m3,795	^m3,524	^m3,877	U	U
Passenger-miles^e,j (millions)	2,300	9,100	14,700	13,000	9,800	10,800	12,000	12,500	^R13,100	13,500
Fuel consumed^e (million gallons)	ⁿ242	ⁿ759	ⁿ1,286	ⁿ1,016	^s731	^s847	^s896	^s934	^s1,126	^s1,313
Aviation gasoline	242	551	520	353	266	287	289	292	311	345
Jet fuel	N	208	766	663	464	560	608	642	815	967

Safety	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Fatalities^f
Corporate	N	^o28	^p66	^p21	^r5	^p15	^p20	^r3	^r0	^r30
Business	N	148	126	80	^R64	73	44	^R45	42	55
Instructional	N	93	73	62	47	44	40	38	^R38	38
Personal	N	726	808	492	^R472	488	413	^R432	^R432	385
Aerial application	N	41	32	17	17	15	10	^R17	6	14
Other	N	174	134	95	^R132	99	105	^R106	^R116	113
Total	^o787	1,310	1,239	767	^R725	734	632	^R641	^R631	630
Accidents
Fatal^q	429	641	618	443	403	412	360	^R352	^R368	342
Total	4,793	4,712	3,590	2,215	1,994	2,053	^R1,909	^R1,851	1,909	1,913
Accident rate^g,i (per 100,000 flight hours)
Fatal	3.3	2.5	1.7	^R1.4	^R1.7	1.6	^R1.4	^R1.3	^R1.3	1.1
Total	36.5	18.1	9.9	^R7.2	^R8.3	^R8.0	^R7.3	^R6.7	^R6.8	6.0

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised.

^a In 1960, 1970, 1980, classified as "Industrial."

^b Includes air tours done under 14 CFR 135: air taxi operators and commercial operators.

^c Includes sight seeing done under 14 CFR 91: general operating and flight rules.

^d Federal, state or local Government-owned or leased aircraft used for the purpose of fulfilling a government position.

^e Includes air taxi operations. Nautical miles in source multiplied by 1.151 to convert from nautical miles.

^f Sum of fatalities does not necessarily equal total. Differences are due to methodology used to count collisions involving aircraft in different categories.

^g Suicide/sabotage cases are included in accidents and fatalities data but are excluded from accident rates.

^h Significant decrease in "Other" can be attributed to a redefining of the category to only include "Aerial Other" and "Medical Use."

ⁱ Accident rates are calculated by BTS using the formula: Accident Rates (per 100,000 flight hours) = Fatalities/Flight Hours*100.

NOTES:

Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Total fatalities in this profile may not match those in table 2-14, due to when the total fatalities data were received and the data breakdown by type of flying. NTSB constantly updates and reclassifies accident and fatality data.

1994-95 data for active aircraft by use, and flight hours, have been revised to reflect changes in adjustment for nonresponse bias with 1996 telephone survey factors. 1996 vehicle-miles and fuel consumption data are estimated using new information on nonrespondents and are not comparable to earlier years.

SOURCES: Unless otherwise noted, refer to chapter tables for sources.

^j Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation in America, Annual Issues (Washington, DC), pp. 8-11, 14-15.

^k United States. Federal Aviation Administration, General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity and Avionics Survey (Washington, DC: 1990-1999 issues), table 1.1.

^l Ibid., table 1.6 and similar tables in earlier editions.

^m Ibid., table 3.3 and similar tables in earlier editions.

ⁿ Ibid., table 5.1.

^o National Transportation Safety Board, RE-50, personal communication.

^p Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data, U.S. General Aviation, Calendar Year 1998 (Washington, DC: July 2000), charts 27, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43.

^q Ibid., Internet site http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/ as of Sept. 27, 2001, table 10.

^r Ibid., personal communication, Oct. 2, 2001.

^s U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA Aerospace Forecasts, Fiscal Years 2001-2012 (Washington, DC: March 2001), table 30.