General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity and Avionics Survey

The survey covers aircraft used for general aviation as well as commuter air carriers and on-demand air taxis. Operators voluntarily provide information to the FAA. The following statistics have been derived from past surveys and will continue to be in the future. • Number of active aircraft by aircraft type; • Distribution of aircraft by state and FAA region; • Annual hours flown by aircraft type and by use; • Annual operations; • Airframe hours; • Annual hours flown by IFR/IFR flight plans; • Lifetime airframe hours; • Fuel consumption; • Avionics equipment; • Participation in fractional ownership. In addition, information relative to aircraft aging, gear type, and the airworthiness certificate are developed from the survey. Examples of specific uses of the survey statistics include: • General aviation active aircraft and hours flown are the primary exposure measures used throughout the agency in assessing the safety status of general aviation flying and in determining the impact of general aviation on the National Airspace System. • The agency and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) use the exposure data, both by itself and in conjunction with aircraft age, to calculate accident rates, which are used to compare safety over time and safety performance among different aircraft types and configurations. • The agency and the NTSB will use the exposure data for public use aircraft to calculate accident rates for those aircraft. The NTSB is now required to investigate accidents involving public use aircraft. This is a responsibility assigned by Public Law 103-411. • Lifetime airframe hours are used in aircraft fatigue studies for determining mean time failures and establishing aircraft maintenance cycles. • Hours flown and active aircraft information by type of flying is used for safety analyses, forecasting and planning.. • Fuel consumption data are used for planning, forecasting and for assessing the effect of the agency’s energy conservation programs. • The state in which aircraft are based is used to determine the geographical dispersion of the fleet and to estimate activity by state. Activity by state is also required to support the FAA, and state and local governments for airport master planning. • Data on avionics capability are used for assessing the ability of the general aviation fleet to use the National Airspace System. The availability of avionics data also allows the FAA to determine at which airports various aircraft can land and in which segments of airspace they can fly. These data are used in assessing the economic impact of proposed regulations on the general aviation fleet. • In addition to the FAA, NTSB, and the Department of Commerce, other organizations in federal, state and local governments, as well as the aviation industry, use the data collected in this survey for many other purposes.

The latest form for General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity and Avionics Survey expires 2021-09-30 and can be found here.