Rather than competing with scheduled commercial flying, general aviation is an adjunct that increases opportunity for business and personal travellers.

A primeval yearning in mankind is to share space with birds and clouds, to be free to roam the halls of the skies. Pilots, particularly light aircraft pilots, can revel in the freedom provided by controlling an aerial vehicle. Small, personal airplanes respond to light control inputs, giving one the feeling of the machine being an extension of the hands.

Of course, many reasons for private flying exist; valid uses other than pure sport involving the exhilaration of flight. The utility of general aviation—as that segment of flight operations not involving airline or military flying is called—makes it a vital part of a national aviation system. All too often, those involved with policy making and the shaping of general opinion consider only the needs and benefits of large air carriers when all aspects of civil aviation should be added into the national sum.

General aviation, as part of a country’s air transportation system, encompasses small airports in communities not served by domestic or flag airlines, private business aircraft delivering goods and personnel from site to site at the owner’s schedule, aerial work such as agricultural application or ambulance transport and personal flight operations by clubs or individuals in owned aircraft. The benefit to a nation’s transport system is from increased economic activity because the use of general aviation fosters direct connection in a timely manner between persons. Rather than waiting for a daily airline flight, it is possible to travel to and from a destination remote from the nearest large air carrier airport on one’s own schedule.

Therefore, apart from supplementing and supporting the large airline network connecting major cities, general aviation transports persons and freight from larger cities to smaller towns. Rather than competing with scheduled commercial flying, it is an adjunct that increases overall opportunity for business and personal travellers.