HAI Cosponsored Study Demonstrates The Helicopter Industry’s Contribution To The U.S. Economy

This year, Helicopter Association International and six other general aviation (GA) trade associations sponsored a study detailing GA’s contribution to the US economy in 2018, the most recent year for which such data are available.

The study, published on Feb. 19, 2020, and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), relied heavily on data from the FAA’s 2018 General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (commonly known as the GA Survey), in addition to member survey data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, one of the seven cosponsors of the PwC report.

The PwC study focuses on five main types of GA aircraft, including helicopters. (By definition, GA excludes scheduled airline and military operations.) Of this group, helicopters accounted for the fourth-largest number of shipments (455, or 15.3%) of new US-manufactured GA aircraft in 2018—very nearly the same share as jet-powered airplanes and more than that of turboprop airplanes. Helicopters also made up 4.4% of sales of US-made GA aircraft that year.

Helicopters more than pull their weight in terms of the contribution they make to general aviation in the United States: while constituting only 4.8% (9,988) of the more than 211,000 active aircraft in the GA fleet in 2018, helicopters logged 11.5% (2,922) of all GA flight hours recorded that year.

Numbers such as these are important barometers of not only GA’s economic impact but also the success of FAA safety initiatives and pilot access to navigational equipment and services that facilitate safe flight.

But annual fleet-size and flight-hour figures won’t be accurate if the yearly GA survey doesn’t receive responses from as many aircraft owners and operators as possible. So, if you haven’t done so already, please take a little time now to complete the 2019 General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey. When you do, you’ll be contributing to an accurate portrayal of the US helicopter industry and the critical work its members do every day.

(Source: HAI news release)

FMI: www.rotor.org