General Aviation Airports
Like GA flight operations and aircraft types, general aviation airports also vary significantly in their size and purpose and range from unpaved private airstrips with runways less than 2,000 feet in length located in remote, unpopulated areas to busy general aviation reliever airports situated in major metropolitan areas and converted military airbases with runways of sufficient length to handle the largest of jets.
In the United States, there are more than 19,000 total landing facilities including both public- and private-use facilities. Only about 450 of these airports serve regularly scheduled commercial passenger flights. The remainder consists of a wide variety of GA airports, heliports, and seaplane bases. Of these, almost 5,000 are public use, of which about 3,500 have paved runways. A large number of private use airports – over 4,500 out of about 14,000 total airports – also have paved runways. About 3,500 public use GA airports and another 1,000 private use landing facilities have lighted runways for night operations.10 The FAA’s National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) – a compilation of those airports eligible for federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding because they are considered vital to the nation’s aviation infrastructure – includes 278 GA reliever airports that primarily
7 Federal Aviation Administration. FAA Aerospace Forecasts – Fiscal Years 2005-2016. March 2005.
8 Ibid.
9 See Report of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee Working Group on General Aviation Airport Security (October 1, 2003); and Transportation Security Administration, Security Guidelines for General Aviation Airports. Information Publication A-001 (May 2004).
10 Federal Aviation Administration. Administrator’s Fact Book (August 2005).
serve GA operations in major metropolitan areas, plus slightly more than 2,500 additional GA airports – mostly located in rural areas – that serve as critical links between various communities and the national airspace system. Only these airports are specifically eligible for federal AIP funds to implement security enhancements such as hangars to secure aircraft or improved perimeter fencing.
Airports that exclusively serve GA vary widely in terms of their proximity to densely populated areas, their levels of activity, and the types of operations conducted. To illustrate, consider Peachtree - Dekalb County Airport (PDK), a busy general aviation reliever located near Atlanta, Georgia. According to the FAA, PDK experiences an average of 639 operations per day, 64% by transient GA aircraft. According to a recent survey, PDK ranks 20th among the busiest GA airports in the United States.11 While PDK has an air traffic control tower, even at this relatively busy airport, the tower closes during late night and early morning hours. Almost 600 aircraft are based on the field including 56 jets and 13 helicopters. Contrast this with Red Stewart Airfield (40I) in Waynesville, Ohio – a 2,400 foot long grass strip located roughly midway between Dayton and Cincinnati. The airport – considered an “uncontrolled field” because it has no operating control tower – sees less than 50 operations per day. The airport is home to only 44 aircraft – 40 small single-engine airplanes, 2 ultralights, and 2 gliders – that account for most (89%) of the flight activity at the airport.
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