ABSTRACT
The most widely used service provided by the Federal Aviation Administration to general aviation pilots is the flight service station network of 75 facilities for collecting and disseminating weather information, filing flight plans, and providing in-flight assistance and aviation advisory services. Fundamental changes have taken place in the general aviation industry. Before 1978, changes in the industry mirrored changes in the economy. The industry has both a moral obligation and an economic self-interest in building safe aircraft—a manufacturer with a poor safety record cannot continue to exist. The critical issue of aircraft and equipment sales on a constant-flow and increasing-flow basis through the dealer-distributor network eventually depends on the absorption of the product by the end users, the people who spend money to purchase such equipment. Numerous examples of typical traveling schedules purport to demonstrate the advantages of business aircraft over the commercial airlines.
