Guidebook on General Aviation Facility Planning

Abstract

This publication provides practical guidance for planning airport facilities designed to accommodate general aviation (GA) aircraft. Airport practitioners will find the Guidebook helpful for translating anticipated GA activity into facility requirements and layouts. The research for this guidebook included a review of FAA Advisory Circulars and Orders, as well as other relevant literature. This was followed by industry outreach to understand current GA planning practice and needs. The research team visited numerous airports and interviewed many stakeholders, including airport management, operations/ maintenance staff, consultants, and service providers. Chapter 1 provides background and suggestions for using the Guidebook. A description of GA activity is provided in Chapter 2. The benefits of airport planning and its relevance to airport operations and long-term development are described in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 provides a framework for GA facility planning—discussing governing documents, grant assurances, financing, GA services, and the activity indicators that drive facility planning. Chapter 5 addresses planning for specific facilities, including terminals and fixed-base operator buildings, auto parking, aircraft parking aprons, hangars, fuel farms, wash racks, helicopter parking, and other facilities. A key feature of this guidance is adjacency considerations (i.e., how various facilities should be located relative to each other based on function). The appendices consist of a list of abbreviations and terms, a discussion on how to size a parking area, a process for estimating the number of aircraft parking positions, and a bibliography of planning resources. Although the Guidebook is geared to airport industry practitioners, the lay reader will also benefit from the sections that provide background on GA aircraft and activities and the unique facility needs of this segment of the industry.