Plane Facts: Highs And Lows
The changes in aviation over the years have been dramatic, in both directions!
For those pilots new to flying, the activity level of today's light-aircraft segment must seem pretty normal. After all, it hasn't changed much in its basic tenor in decades. But if we do go back a few decades, times were very different. For one, there were twice as many pilots buying seven to 10 times as many airplanes, which were in general cheaper back then, too. But aviation is still a vibrant activity, with more than half a million pilots in the United States alone. And even though that number is lower than it once was, the amount of flying that today's pilots do has nearly kept pace with that of the glory days of the 1970s, which is to say, today's pilots put in more hours per year, a lot more, than ever. Still, the change in the light-aviation sector has been dramatic at times---seismic shifts brought on by war, peace, economic good times and bad, and big demographic shifts over the years. Here are some striking details that highlight those changes!
Best year for GA piston sales ever: 1946, 35,000 planes
Estimated number delivered in '46: Less than 10,000
Planes built five years later: 2,302 (down 93% from '46)
Worst year for GA piston sales: 1994, 495 planes
Number delivered five years later: 1,748
Best year for piston sales in modern era: 1979, 16,129 delivered
Singles built in the 22-year period 1959-1981: 218,881
Most singles during one year, 1959-1981: 14,398 in 1978
Singles built in the 22-year period 1989-2011: 26,894
Most singles in one year 1989-2011: 2,208 planes, 2006
Singles delivered in 2008: 1,943
Singles delivered in 2009: 893
FAA-certified pilots in 1980: 827,071
Percentage of those who were women: 6.4%
FAA pilots in 2014: 593,499
Percentage who were women: 6.6%
Recreational pilots in U.S. in 1993: 206
Recreational pilots in U.S. in 2014: 220
Private pilots in Rhode Island in 2014: 363
Sport pilots in 2005 (first year of certificate): 134
Number in 2014: 5,157
FAA pilots in American Samoa in 2014: 7
Number who are commercial or ATPs: 7
Number of aircraft based in Iceland: 302
Number of amphibs there: 2
Multi-engine planes in Iceland: 3
State with most pilots in 2014: California, 59,213
Seaplane bases in California: 4
CFIs in U.S. in 1980: 60,440
CFIs in U.S. in 2014: 100,993
Piston singles in Germany in 2014: 6,838
Gliders (including motor gliders) in Germany in 2014: 11,014
State with most seaplane bases: Minnesota, 51
State with fewest GA hours: Vermont, 22,000
State with most hours: Texas, 2.24 million
Seaplane bases in Texas: 1 ( KDWH, David Wayne Hooks Memorial)
Second place in hours flown: California, 2.16 million
Third place: Florida, 2.05 million
State with 4th most hours: Alaska, 772,000
Percentage of U.S. total for Texas, California and Florida: 26%
Hours in U.S. by Light Sport Aircraft in 2014: approx. 300,000
Air Taxi Hours, Light Sport: 93
State with aviation making biggest impact on GDP: Kansas
Fatal accident rate for GA in 1974: 2.47 per 100,000 hours
Fatal rate in 2014: 1.29 (cut in half)
Total GA hours in 1974: 27.85 million
Total GA hours in 2014: 19.6 million
Busiest GA airport: Deer Valley (Phoenix), 373,401 operations
Percentage that were GA hours: 98.4%
50 busiest airports with less than 60% GA ops: 0
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