General Aviation Stats

Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay

For many small and mid sized towns around the world, General Aviation is their lifeline. Take the airport to the right for example. It is on a small island, and is the only way out of the island except boat travel. In some other small towns, it's the only way out of the town. If it is the only way out, it has to be safe, right? Absolutely. The numbers provided do not lie.  Comparing directly driving to flying, or airplanes vs. cars in statistics, let's examine the info that is provided by Harry Mantakos on his website:

The Nall Report from 2005 lists general aviation incidents in terms of numbers. These statistics are from the year of 2004, listed in the 2005 report. In 2004, there were 1413 General Aviation fixed-wing incidents, and only 290 of those involved fatalities. These fatalities killed 510 people. The FAA estimates based on data that in 2004, general aviation aircraft were in the air for a total of 25.9 Million flight hours. Those numbers are amazingly low, based on the number of aircraft in the air every day. The skies are relatively crowded. Major airports handle hundreds of airplanes every hour. To have only a small number of incidents with such a high number of aircraft in the air is proof of safety that many have worked for many years to improve and keep at such a high standard.

In comparison, let's look at the number of car incidents and miles traveled in 2004.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2004 statistics on car travel has listed the number of accidents as 6.1 million. Of this 6.1 million, 1.9 million involved injuries, and resulted in 42,636 fatalities. These vehicles traveled a total of 2.9 trillion miles during the year traveled in vehicles, and 10.0 billion motorcycle miles traveled during the year.  

A Typical General Aviation Airport

Just looking at the numbers, you can tell they are far greater on the driving end. 510 fatalities compared to 42,636 is shocking. Anyone can look at the numbers and easily see the facts. More people die each year in cars, than airplanes. Your far more likely to get in an accident while you're driving down the road, on your way to school or to pick up the kids than you are while traveling across the United States or the world  to get to your job on the other side of the country. 

4. Mantakos, Harry. "Is GA Flying Safer Than Driving?" Rambling on Flying. n.d. 3 Oct 2011. <http://www.meretrix.com/~harry/flying/notes/safetyvsdriving.html>

On Mantako's personal website, he lists vital statistics to my blog posting that I included. He is able to provide information from the 2004 Nall Report which listed the number of GA fixed-wing incidents as 1413, which I was then able to compare to the number of car incidents, which was listed as 6.1 million. I was then able to limit this down to the number of fatalities from each type of travel, driving and air travel and compare the two numbers to prove my point that far less people are killed each year in the skies than on the ground.

I personally feel that this data provided proves the point in the best way possible, showing hard, cold numbers to the viewer to let them see not just the words, but a statistical representation of the incidents that occur. Based off this data, I can then provide statistics on the miles traveled, and how many incidents occur in each time period of a hour of flight time, to a hour of driving time or vice versa. It will allow me to prove another point of which you are much more likely to encounter an incident on a random drive and your planned trip. 

5. Likavec, Mike. "Tangier Island." No date. Online image. Atlantic Flyer. 3 Oct 2011. 

The first picture that I provided is of Tangier Island smack dab in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay off the coast of Virginia. From this image, I was able to prove a point that for some places, air travel is the only way of travel, so it has to be safe. You would not let your primary source of travel off the island be a method of which would be so dangerous you would not want to life there in the first place.  Most people do not realize that for some folks around the country, general aviation is their way of life instead of car travel.

The image of Tangier Island is a great representation. The island itself is only 0.2 sq miles in area, far too small for most folks to even drive on. If you want to get off the island, the only way of travel is by boat, or by airplane. The airport sees a lot of use, due to this fact. To my knowledge, there has not been one incident in the recent past at Tangier, even though they have a high ratio of air travel, not only for travel off the island, but for tourism as well. 

6. "Gallatin Field Airport." No date. Online image. BZN Gallatin Field Airport. 3 Oct 2011. 

From this image, I was able to provide a representation of the sheer numbers of airplanes that are commonly at a general aviation airport. Drive to any airport nearby, and your likely to see at least ten to as many as one hundred plus airplanes sitting on the ramp, some running, some getting ready to go, or others getting maintenance so that they can safely fly again. The image also proves a fact that there is a large variety of airplanes at each airport, that can safely travel, just like cars and motorcycles do on the roads of the world.

The image of Gallatin Field Airport provides a great representation of the number of airplanes at a general aviation airport. It also provides a variety of airplanes for the viewer to look at. The photo also displays a common layout at a general aviation airport, being one runway and a ramp area where airplanes are parked for storage, maintenance, or to load and unload passengers. General aviation however is not just for travel, it can also be for recreation. A retired military pilot can take a Cessna 172 Skyhawk up for a joyride, and relive the thrill he felt many years ago maybe in the cockpit of a fighter jet over a war zone