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General Aviation Profile

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FINANCIAL1

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Expenditures, total ($ millions) 895 2,035 8,053 9,907 9,332 10,379 11,605 13,797 16,372 17,553 21,909 26,499 U U U U U
Aircraft 202 339 2,853 3,398 3,910 4,260 5,298 7,174 9,573 11,262 14,291 18,524 U U U U U
Operating costs 693 1,696 5,200 6,509 5,422 6,119 6,307 6,623 6,799 6,291 7,618 7,975 U U U U U

INVENTORY2

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Number of active aircraft by primary use, total 76,549 131,743 211,045 196,800 173,400 188,100 187,312 192,414 204,710 219,464 217,533 211,446 211,244 209,708 219,426 224,352 221,943
Corporate N 6,835 14,860 10,100 9,400 9,800 9,286 10,411 11,250 10,804 11,003 10,544 10,810 10,493 10,212 10,553 11,054
Business N 26,900 49,391 33,100 26,500 26,200 28,236 27,716 32,611 24,543 25,169 25,525 24,153 25,042 24,189 25,524 24,413
Instructional N 10,727 14,862 18,600 15,000 14,800 14,261 14,663 11,375 16,081 14,883 14,254 13,203 12,714 13,099 13,399 14,316
Personal N 65,398 96,222 112,600 102,500 109,300 109,619 115,630 124,347 147,085 148,192 144,031 145,996 146,722 149,700 151,408 149,026
Aerial application N 5,455 7,294 6,200 4,300 5,100 5,361 4,858 4,550 4,254 4,294 3,779 3,971 3,250 3,202 3,548 3,430
Aerial observation N N N 4,900 5,100 4,700 3,225 3,311 3,242 3,240 5,093 5,039 4,535 4,223 4,814 4,663 4,407
External load N N N N 100 200 424 186 313 190 234 202 151 194 215 226 212
Other worka N 2,054 2,813 1,400 1,200 1,100 1,118 679 1,116 2,363 1,787 1,528 1,733 1,726 930 732 729
Air taxi / air toursb N N N 5,800 3,800 4,100 3,963 4,948 5,190 4,569 4,019 4,004 4,157 2,791 6,550 7,539 7,814
Sightseeingc N N N N 1,300 900 889 677 679 832 881 918 641 862 1,050 945 906
Otherd N 8,249 17,045 4,100 4,200 6,300 6,718 5,250 6,010 1,200 1,952 1,573 1,895 1,691 1,835 1,787 2,100
Public use N N N N N N 4,206 4,130 4,029 4,138 j N j N j N j N j N j N j N

PERFORMANCE

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Number of flight hours by actual use, total3 (thousands) 13,121 26,030 36,430 30,763 24,092 26,612 26,909 27,713 28,100 31,231 29,960 27,017 27,040 27,329 28,126 26,982 26,982
Corporate N N 5,332 2,913 2,486 3,069 2,898 2,878 3,213 3,535 3,341 2,657 3,275 3,227 2,849 3,072 3,072
Business 5,699 7,204 8,434 4,417 3,012 3,335 3,259 3,006 3,523 3,602 3,588 3,579 3,287 3,377 3,249 3,244 3,244
Instructional 1,828 6,791 5,748 7,244 4,156 4,410 4,759 4,956 3,961 5,795 5,050 4,307 4,182 4,393 4,035 3,635 3,635
Personal 3,172 6,896 8,894 9,276 8,248 9,659 9,037 9,644 9,781 11,072 11,477 11,266 11,025 11,251 10,239 9,266 9,266
Aerial application N N 2,044 1,872 1,364 1,526 1,713 1,562 1,306 1,408 1,318 1,038 1,182 1,099 1,142 1,031 1,031
Aerial observation N N N 1,745 1,746 1,391 1,057 1,261 812 1,244 1,545 1,442 1,366 1,262 1,457 1,265 1,265
External load N N N N 135 128 191 112 153 123 161 131 97 103 125 134 134
Other worka N N 1,053 572 241 280 265 139 286 605 496 256 369 414 264 176 176
Air taxi / air toursb N N N 2,249 1,545 1,527 1,834 2,122 2,583 1,985 2,122 1,587 1,495 1,332 2,764 3,210 3,210
Sightseeingc N N N N 309 179 195 127 169 218 197 183 134 175 204 191 191
Otherd 2,422 5,139 4,925 475 622 1,107 656 819 940 535 665 664 628 697 617 753 753
Public usee N N N N N N 1,047 1,096 1,373 1,109 j N j N j N j N j N j N j N
Vehicle-miles (millions)f,1 1,769 3,207 5,204 4,548 3,358 3,795 3,524 3,877 U U U U U U U U U
Passenger-miles (millions)f,1 2,300 9,100 14,700 13,000 9,800 10,800 12,000 12,500 13,100 14,100 15,200 15,900 U U U U U
Fuel consumed, total (million gallons)f, 5 242 759 1,286 1,016 731 847 896 934 1,126 1,313 1,305 (R) 1,198 (R) 1,215 (R) 1,205 (R) 1,504 (R) 1,511 (E) 1,551
Aviation gasoline 242 551 520 353 266 287 289 292 311 345 333 (R) 279 (R) 277 (R) 272 (R) 273 (R) 255 (E) 262
Jet fuel N 208 766 663 464 560 608 642 815 967 972 (R) 918 (R) 938 (R) 932 (R) 1,231 (R) 1,255 (E) 1,289

SAFETY

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Fatalities, totalg,6 787 1,310 1,239 770 730 735 636 631 625 619 596 562 581 632 558 (R) 563 696
Corporate N 28 66 21 6 15 20 3 0 30 13 12 5 5 10 8 3
Business N 148 126 80 64 73 44 45 42 55 43 50 39 33 45 14 37
Instructional N 93 73 62 47 44 40 38 38 38 64 40 42 71 31 (R) 45 47
Personal N 726 808 492 472 488 413 432 432 383 386 376 407 444 369 (R) 415 369
Aerial application N 41 32 17 17 15 10 17 6 14 19 14 14 6 10 14 8
Other N 174 134 95 138 112 119 106 112 105 87 73 77 84 95 72 234
Accidents, total7 4,793 4,712 3,590 2,242 2,021 2,056 1,908 1,844 1,905 1,905 1,837 1,727 1,715 (R) 1,740 (R) 1,619 1,669 1,484
Fatal 429 641 618 444 404 413 361 350 365 340 345 325 345 352 314 321 301
Accident rate (per 100,000 flight hours)h,i 36.5 18.1 9.9 (R) 7.3 (R) 8.4 7.7 7.1 6.7 6.8 6.1 6.1 6.4 6.3 (R) 6.4 (R) 5.8 (R) 6.2 5.5
Fatal 3.3 2.5 1.7 (R) 1.4 (R) 1.7 1.6 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.1 (R) 1.2 1.1

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available, E = estimated by source.

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 sightseeing done under 14 CFR 91: general operating and flight rules.

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

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

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

g Sum of fatalities does not necessarily equal total due to aircraft involved in midair and on-ground collisions.

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

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

j Beginning in 2000, "Public Use" was included in "Other Work".

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.

1 1960-2001: Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation in America, Annual Issues (Washington, DC), pp. 40 and 45, and similar tables in earlier editions.

2 U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity and Avionics Survey (Washington, DC: 1990-2004 issues), table 1.1.

3 Ibid., table 1.4 and similar tables in earlier editions.

4 Ibid., table 3.3 and similar tables in earlier editions.

5 1960-1990: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, General Aviation and Air Taxi Acitivity and Avionics Survey (Washington, DC: 1990-2000 issues), table 5.1. 1994-2006: Ibid., FAA Aerospace Forecasts, (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table 30 and similar tables in earlier editions.

6 1960-1970: National Transportation Safety Board, RE-50, personal communication. 1980-2002: 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, and personal communications on Sept. 10, 2002, Dec. 22, 2003, April 30, 2004, Mar. 24, 2005, Nov. 7, 2006, and Oct. 30, 2007.

7 1960-80: National Transportation Safety Board, RE-50, personal communication. Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data, U.S. General Aviation, Calendar Year 1998 (Washington, DC: July 2000), available at Internet site http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/ as of July 22, 2004, table 10. 1990-2006: Ibid., Aviation Accident Statistics, table 10, Internet site http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/Stats.htm as of Oct. 30, 2007.
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