2.02 Classes of GA Aircraft
MergeGlobal grouped GA aircraft into the following classes that are consistent with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) classifications:
2.02.1 Single-engine piston-powered airplanes5 comprise over 80% of the current GA fleet in the United States and are the most common Personal-Use aircraft, thanks to their relatively low acquisition cost. The single piston engine drives a single propeller, and burns relatively expensive aviation gasoline (avgas).
2.02.2 Multi-engine piston-powered airplanes usually have two piston engines driving separate propellers. As with single piston aircraft, they use aviation gasoline, and Personal-Use accounts for much of their flight time.
2.02.3 Single-or Multi-engine Turboprop airplanes are powered by one or more turbine engines that drive propellers and burn aviation kerosene (jet fuel). Turboprop aircraft typically are larger, faster, and more expensive than piston aircraft. Turboprops are flown for a wide variety of purposes but are most often flown for business, corporate, and other professionally crewed purposes.
5 In accordance with industry norms, Airplanes are fixed-wing aircraft, Rotorcraft are rotary-wing aircraft (or, helicopters), while the term Aircraft includes both airplanes and helicopters.
2.02.4 Jet airplanes have two or three turbofan engines and offer the greatest speeds and range capabilities of all GA aircraft. Due to the expense and professional requirements of their operation, jets are most commonly operated by corporate and government users. For purposes of this study, jets are further segmented by weight class into three categories (light, medium, and heavy) to capture significant cost and use differences.
2.02.5 Piston engine powered rotorcraft are helicopters powered by a single piston engine that burns avgas. Piston-powered rotorcraft are generally smaller and less expensive to acquire and operate than their turbine-powered cousins and are most commonly flown for instructional or personal purposes.
2.02.6 Turbine engine powered rotorcraft are helicopters powered by one or two turbine engines that burn jet fuel. Aerial observation, law enforcement, and medical evacuation account for much of their usage.
2.02.7 Experimental aircraft generally are home-built or kit aircraft flown by enthusiasts. They have piston or turbine engines but usually have piston engines. This category also includes some vintage aircraft and rebuilt military aircraft of which there are limited working examples.
The following graphs depict sales and flight hours in 2005 by each of the GA aircraft categories. “Rotorcraft” represents both piston-and turbine-powered helicopters, while “Pistons” represent both single-and multi-engine piston-power airplanes.
CharT 4 CharT 5
U.S. Sales by GA Aircraft Category in 2005 Flight Hours by GA Aircraft Category in 2005
($ billions)
2.03 The Uses of General Aviation Aircraft
The FAA classifies GA aircraft according to the uses reported by owners. Each use is suggestive of a pattern of expenditures that contributes to other sectors of the U.S. economy based on employment of professional crews, hours flown, insurance rates, and other variables. The majority use for which the aircraft is flown determines how the FAA classifies the use of that aircraft. The uses which the FAA defines are listed below in Table 4.
Table 4
FAA GA Aircraft Use Categories
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