General aviation

General aviation (abbr. GA) is one of the two categories of civil aviation, encompassing all aircraft flights other than scheduled airline activity. It includes both private and commercial flights.

Related Topics:
Civil aviation - Airline

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It includes everything from privately-owned light single-engine aircraft to business jets, news gathering, police, pipeline patrol, emergency medical flights, crop-dusting, rotorcraft, gliding, sport ballooning and many other aerial activities.

Related Topics:
Aircraft - Business jet - Gliding - Ballooning

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Much of the traffic in general aviation is flown under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in contrast to airline traffic which is nearly always flown under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Under IFR, air traffic control provides separation from other IFR flights (and in class A, B, C, and D airspace, from VFR flights as well) to prevent mid-air collisions.

Related Topics:
Visual Flight Rules - VFR - Instrument Flight Rules - Air traffic control

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The ground facilities needed for most general aviation flights are generally less sophisticated than those required by most military aviation or airlines operating scheduled flights, but there are many differences between the smaller grass aerodromes and those capable of accepting the larger corporate aircraft on long-distance and/or international flights. Some of these differences simply reflect the different speeds and capabilities of aircraft types in common use, whilst others reflect regulations imposed to safeguard the safety of pilots, passengers and nearby communities.

Related Topics:
Military aviation - Airline - Aerodrome

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Most public-use airports, including airports which are served by commercial carriers, have some general aviation traffic, although GA users are sometimes subject to user fees at the larger airports.

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