4 ms·

I think you're greatly underestimating the number of GA / Piston aircraft flying. At my school, we have ~10 aircraft flying every day, 8-12 hours a day dependi

I think you're greatly underestimating the number of GA / Piston aircraft flying. At my school, we have ~10 aircraft flying every day, 8-12 hours a day depending on the weather. Most of these flights happen over prime, in production farmland, or on the edges of the nearby town which has 8 schools at a minimum. Now we're one of probably 5 aviation schools within a 50 mile radius, all of whom are operating at similar or greater profiles. I'm sure the individual impact is small, but for every jumbo jet there's something like 3-5 piston aircraft in operation.

bombcar 5y ago
There are 220,000 GA planes in the US. The number of jetliners isn't clear, but it's something like 45k flights in the US a day (some of those are doubled up). https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/by_the_numbers/ https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/by_the_numbers/ But the key number is there 25,506,000 GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT HOURS PER YEAR, which is almost exactly the amount of 100LL used a year (technically some GA flights are jet).
- robonerd 5y ago
  These GA statistics seem to include Aerial Work, so it includes a considerable number of turbine powered aircraft (most helicopters for instance.) This Excel(!) document breaks GA hours down between types of aircraft: https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/general_aviation/CY2020/media/2020GASurvey_Chapter_2_Tables_508_Compliant_03DEC2021V1.xlsx https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/g... From that document, here are the estimated total hours flown by type of general aviation aircraft: Fixed wing piston: 12.9 million Fixed wing turbine (turboprop + turbojet): 5.6 million Helicopter (turbine): 1.8 million Helicopter (pison): 0.6 million Aside, if you compare Chart4 and Chart5 in that document, you can see that although piston aircraft are far more numerous, on average they spend a lot more time on the ground than turbine powered aircraft.

bombcar 5y ago

There are 220,000 GA planes in the US. The number of jetliners isn't clear, but it's something like 45k flights in the US a day (some of those are doubled up). https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/by_the_numbers/ https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/by_the_numbers/ But the key number is there 25,506,000 GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT HOURS PER YEAR, which is almost exactly the amount of 100LL used a year (technically some GA flights are jet).

robonerd 5y ago
These GA statistics seem to include Aerial Work, so it includes a considerable number of turbine powered aircraft (most helicopters for instance.) This Excel(!) document breaks GA hours down between types of aircraft: https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/general_aviation/CY2020/media/2020GASurvey_Chapter_2_Tables_508_Compliant_03DEC2021V1.xlsx https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/g... From that document, here are the estimated total hours flown by type of general aviation aircraft: Fixed wing piston: 12.9 million Fixed wing turbine (turboprop + turbojet): 5.6 million Helicopter (turbine): 1.8 million Helicopter (pison): 0.6 million Aside, if you compare Chart4 and Chart5 in that document, you can see that although piston aircraft are far more numerous, on average they spend a lot more time on the ground than turbine powered aircraft.