Air Transportation Management
The Impact of General Aviation

General aviation is considered one of the three main segments of the aviation market. The other two being commercial aviation and military aviation. General aviation operations are anything other than military and common carriage. Without general aviation, the industry would suffer in countless ways, possibly even collapse. General aviation includes, literally, every other civilian job except for the few related to the airline sector. What I consider the most important ones are aerial firefighting, flight instructing, pipeline patrol, corporate, bush piloting, agricultural, and test piloting. Flight instructing is one of the most important jobs that there is in the aviation industry. It is where pilots obtain the proper training and skills necessary to be safe and adequate. I believe flight instructing is most likely the most underrated and underpaid job in the aviation industry. Without this job, all pilots would have to come from the military, which would cause a severe shortage of pilots.

Pipeline patrol requires pilots to fly aircraft at very low altitudes over varying terrain to observe pipelines and check for any problems or vandalism within the lines. Another type of this job is for pilots to patrol the U.S. borders in search for illegal activities. Without either of these general aviation jobs, more resources and man hours would be required to check oil pipelines and secure our borders.
Corporate flying involves pilots flying for private companies and corporations. They tend to fly the executives on business trips and any other business related activity. Many businesses require a privately owned aircraft to operate and expand.
Bush pilots are extremely well trained and proficient pilots that fly in all types of weather from sunny days to blizzards that can cause whiteouts within seconds. They deliver precious cargo and people to remote places that are only accessible by air travel.
Aerial firefighting is a somewhat dangerous job that must require very skilled and proficient pilots to operate planes with full loads of fire retardant low to the ground and release the loads to help extinguish forest fires. Without aerial firefighting, fires would be much harder to control and extinguish. It would put pressure, man hours, and resources required on the ground units resulting in substantial expenditures.
The agricultural pilot carries various chemicals and compounds and sprays them on forest, farmlands, fields, crops, orchards, and swamps. These chemicals are usually fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides. This general aviation job is essential for today’s farmers.
Test piloting consists of testing overhauled and new aircraft to ensure they are airworthy. Many believe being a test pilot is the most dangerous of all pilot jobs, and for good reasons, too. Some of the factors they test are the design strength, equipment, and performance capabilities of new types of aircraft built by manufacturers. This job is essential to the general aviation and to the airline sector.

These are just a few of the many jobs pertaining to the general aviation sector, and these are only the pertaining to actually flying an aircraft. There are countless more supporting jobs in the general aviation sector. The fact that of the nation’s approximately 600,000 pilots, more 500,000 of them fly general aviation aircraft is enough to explain why general aviation has such strong impacts on air transportation. General aviation brings in the bulk of the revenue for the entire industry. “Thousands of communities benefit as their airports creates a positive ripple effect in the local economy” (AOPA). Its jobs save lives, aide in business growth, increase safety, and increase the possibilities of tomorrow.
Works Cited
AOPA.(n.d.). What is general aviation? Retrieved from http://www.aopa.org/info/what_ga.pdf
Hines, S. 2004. Learn to fly. Retrieved from http://www.avscholars.com/AvScholars/Channels/Learn_to_Fly/pilot_jobs.htm