"aircraft operations" statistics for small airports: real or bogus?

NoHeat

NoHeat

En-Route
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
4,991
Location
Iowa City, IA
Display Name
Display name:
17
On AirNav, the data for an airport includes a line like this: "aircraft operations: avg 77/week"

I'm wondering where those numbers come from, and whether they are routinely exaggerated. Does anybody here know?

For example, E41 in Big Lake, Texas, a town with a population of 3,100. This airport is so sleepy, its manager (who is also the county judge) hasn't updated the gas price at Airnav since 2015. I can believe there are 7 airplanes based on the field. But these seven planes would have to each take off at least once per day to account for all the operations that are claimed:

Aircraft based on the field: 7
Single engine airplanes: 6
Multi engine airplanes: 1
1dot.gif

Aircraft operations: avg 77/week *
75% local general aviation
25% transient general aviation​
 
I have wondered the same, IMO it's a bunch of hogwash. One of the non-towered fields here, says the average is 40/day and then below that it's noted with a small asterisk that it was for a 12 month period ending November 21, 2013, so it's not updated on a regular basis. Even then, I know that number isn't accurate, as they would be lucky to average 20/day on the high side of things.

It would be interesting to find out how they compile this data.
 
Last edited:
I have had the same question/comment. I think they inflate the numbers so they can get more funding to waste.
 
My old field was highly highly inflated. We were told to just estimate how many operations we had each day. Most guys just threw in random numbers. I'd at least try to base it on fact if I was working the day shift.

A few years ago the Dept. of Aviation for the state started cracking down on this practice around the state. So the numbers for the last year or so are pretty accurate.
 
I swear every airport in Texas says they are the busiest in the country.
I quit caring, because there is only one operation that matters. Cirrus inbound.
The others... meh.
 
I think they're inflated a bit, but do remember that every Touch and Go is considered another "operation" for these silly stats. Getting to 77 only takes a few students making laps per week plus regular traffic.
 
Bogus. Just whatever the airport manager puts on the form. Some places are unattended but somehow they have a yearlong traffic count.
 
I think airport sponsors generally make a WAG (wild ass guess). Sometimes they will make a SWAG (scientific wild ass guess). Google 'estimating airport operations'.

I know one airport that estimated over 90,000 operations. In the 12 months after their control tower opened, it logged less than 60,000. Admittedly, there were some operations when the tower was closed, but not that many.
 
denverpilot said:
I think they're inflated a bit, but do remember that every Touch and Go is considered another "operation" for these silly stats. Getting to 77 only takes a few students making laps per week plus regular traffic.
Click to expand...
A touch and go counts as two operations--an arrival and a departure.
 
kkoran said:
A touch and go counts as two operations--an arrival and a departure.
Click to expand...

Seriously? I could have sworn the tower guy at a local "tower chat" said they were a single, but anyway -- it only helps my point.

77 is almost NOTHING in actual flying type stuff, when it comes to converting to "operations".

Sounds like the number may not be all that inflated after all.
 
My home airport says 474 operations a day. Considering that the airport's only open for departures between 8am-10pm, that's 34 operations an hour. One plane landing every 2 minutes. On busy days between 3-6pm that's probably accurate.
 
ircphoenix said:
My home airport says 474 operations a day. Considering that the airport's only open for departures between 8am-10pm, that's 34 operations an hour. One plane landing every 2 minutes. On busy days between 3-6pm that's probably accurate.
Click to expand...
One takeoff or landing every two minutes. Sounds about right for TOA, and since it's towered, they do actually count them. And remember there are two runways, so if you're lining up for takeoff, it's a lot more than one per two minutes at that time.
 
kkoran said:
A touch and go counts as two operations--an arrival and a departure.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the taxi, the refuel, the tie-down, the run-up, the hold short, the go around, the following of the blue donut on the AOA...

Some airports will still be under the published number even if you include ALL of those.
 
When I was in Shawnee I had to go back through all of the radio transmissions and count takeoff/landing/ILS approach/Touch and go each as 1 operation for each day
 
overdrive148 said:
When I was in Shawnee I had to go back through all of the radio transmissions and count takeoff/landing/ILS approach/Touch and go each as 1 operation for each day
Click to expand...

That sounds like a painful job unless it was well compensated. :)
 
Hank S said:
That would be painful regardless of compensation . . . The higher the traffic count, the more painful it would be.
Click to expand...

Depends. If one can get a fixed dollar amount per operation counted...

Oh wait. That's how this whole silly system works, isn't it? ;)
 
Fortunately it wasn't always busy so in between wearing the FBO hat and the management hat and the operations hat solo all day on the airport. At least I got to sit down and relax with the dulcet tones of Shawnee Regional Airport's "Touch and Go's" with their hit songs "This Student Is Only Calling Base Leg", "Here Comes FlightCheck Again" and "Mark Down Another Left Final" to the tune of 11.06 an hour part time.
 
Last edited:
denverpilot said:
Depends. If one can get a fixed dollar amount per operation counted...

Oh wait. That's how this whole silly system works, isn't it? ;)
Click to expand...

I'll take that as the answer to the question I posed in the OP.

The data are bogus. The data are generated by airport managers, exploiting a system that allows them to obtain more funding by fraudulently exaggerating the number of operations.
 
The takeoff/landing data is only really pertinent to towered airports. The data is compiled by the controllers and it is used to determine staffing requirements and hours of operation. Non towered airports can be busy but they're operations budgets come mainly from taxes collected from planes based on the field and other local taxes.

Improvements to both towered and non towered fields can be funded from federal grant money but it is not necessarily based on takeoff/landing data but instead on the need for major repairs like repaving ramp areas or fixing aging taxiways and runways.
 
NoHeat said:
I'll take that as the answer to the question I posed in the OP.

The data are bogus. The data are generated by airport managers, exploiting a system that allows them to obtain more funding by fraudulently exaggerating the number of operations.
Click to expand...

It's not really "bogus" necessarily, just measured in a different way that one might expect.

Whether it's "bogus" or not, one could only determine by going out and doing one's own count and comparing it to what the powers that be at a particular specific airport reported.
 
All airports are required to report the number of operations. At non-towered airports, there is really no good way to get a real number, so most just guess. At the end of the day it is not a very important number.

And yes, a touch-n-go is counted as two operations, a landing and a takeoff. Instrument approaches that do not actually land can also be counted.
 
NoHeat said:
The data are bogus. The data are generated by airport managers, exploiting a system that allows them to obtain more funding by fraudulently exaggerating the number of operations.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't consider it all bogus, it depends on the source. When a friend and I called the local towered airport inquiring about number of operations for the month I got the impression that there was some method of counting the operations that was automatic. The guy we spoke with didn't even know the number of operations initially and had to contact someone else about it and call us back.

Conversely, one of the local nontowered airports seems to overinflate their monthly numbers (that's what prompted the call to the towered airport in the first place). I get the impression that the airport manager is trying to justify something by making the airport seem busier than it really is. So yes, in this case I would agree that this manager is likely trying to manipulate the system by exaggerating the numbers.

I'm not sure where Air Nav gets their data from, but I'd guess the FAA.
 
mondtster said:
I'm not sure where Air Nav gets their data from, but I'd guess the FAA.
Click to expand...

Airnav and most other sites get their data from the FAA 5010 data. But as I said before, its just a guess, and doesn't affect funding. The only time any traffic count matters is for calculating the airport's critical design aircraft, which is the largest class of aircraft generating a minimum of 500 annual operations. And usually the FAA wants some verification and proof of those numbers, as it does affect project planning and federal funding.
 
mondtster said:
I wouldn't consider it all bogus, it depends on the source. When a friend and I called the local towered airport inquiring about number of operations for the month I got the impression that there was some method of counting the operations that was automatic. The guy we spoke with didn't even know the number of operations initially and had to contact someone else about it and call us back.

Conversely, one of the local nontowered airports seems to overinflate their monthly numbers (that's what prompted the call to the towered airport in the first place). I get the impression that the airport manager is trying to justify something by making the airport seem busier than it really is. So yes, in this case I would agree that this manager is likely trying to manipulate the system by exaggerating the numbers.

I'm not sure where Air Nav gets their data from, but I'd guess the FAA.
Click to expand...
Control tower traffic counts are available on the web at https://aspm.faa.gov/opsnet/sys/main.asp . The numbers don't include traffic When the tower is closed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top