How is this possible?

This data, from the FAA website, seems to fly in the face of the
oft-quoted statistic that "we're losing 2 airports a month in the U.S.:

(In case the formatting gets screwed up, the data is showing a net GAIN
of 243 airports from 2002 to 2004!)
************************************************** *****************
Number of U.S. Airports =B9
(As of December 31)
2004 2003 2002
Total Airports................................ 19,815 19,581 19,572
Public Use Airports.................... 5,288 5,286 5,286
# with Paved Runways....... 3,941 3,938 3,940
# with Unpaved Runways.... 1,347 1,348 1,346
# with Lighted Runways....... 4,037 4,026 4,024
# with Unlighted Runways... 1,251 1,260 1,262
Private Use Airports.................. 14,532 14,295r 14,286
# with Paved Runways........ 4,771 4,678 4,632
# with Unpaved Runways... 9,761 9,617 9,654
# with Lighted Runways...... 1,301 1,223 1,183
# with Unlighted Runways.. 13,231 13,072 13,103
Public use airports abandoned... 10 19 16
Private use airports abandoned. 117 214 121
Certificated Airports*.................. 599 628 633
Civil .................................... 542 555 558
Military ................................ 57 73 75
Source: AAS-330
As of: 12/31/04 (202) 267-8752
=B9 Includes civil and joint-use civil-military airports, heliports,
STOLports, and seaplane bases in the U.S. and its territories.
* Certificated airports serve Air Carrier Operations with aircraft
seating more than 9 passengers seats. (FAR Part 139).
************************************************** *********
Heck, even the number of public use airports appears to have risen.
Why is AOPA saying otherwise?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Almost all new airports are old airports that were not official.

Insurance is more nearly affordable if your airplane is limited to
operations at FAA designated airports. Some owners have been finding
it cheaper to make their airports official than pay for off-airport
landing insurance.

Also, lots of local governments have been putting pressure on private
airport owners to bring the facility "up to code" and make it an
official airport. Most keep them private, but some actually go public.

I'm personally aware of 3 instances of this in Michigan.

So, I'm thinking the AOPA doesn't count them because they're not new
airports, they're old airports with new paperwork. But that's a guess.

"Brien K. Meehan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Insurance is more nearly affordable if your airplane is limited to
operations at FAA designated airports. Some owners have been finding
it cheaper to make their airports official than pay for off-airport
landing insurance.


???. I don't pay more to land at grass strips and private facilities.

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

Interesting, but not really realted to what I said.

"Brien K. Meehan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Interesting, but not really realted to what I said.

I believe you stated, "Insurance is more nearly affordable if your airplane
is limited to
operations at FAA designated airports. "

That's not true. I fly out of cow pastures which are not "FAA designated
airports," and it doesn't effect my insurance.

Of course, that's my experience. Yours may differ ;-)

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

Ah. Your comment referred to grass strips and private facilities,
which could very well be FAA certified airports.

Every insurance policy I've dealt with, prior to my current one,
excludes operations at any facility which isn't certified by the FAA as
an airport. My current one, which doesn't, is mega expensive.

Maybe this is only the case for aircraft with a hull value. Or ones
built during this millenium. ;-)

Deb,
Are you chasing those helpless cows around the field again?

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Deborah McFarland" wrote in message
...
"Brien K. Meehan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Interesting, but not really realted to what I said.

I believe you stated, "Insurance is more nearly affordable if your
airplane is limited to
operations at FAA designated airports. "

That's not true. I fly out of cow pastures which are not "FAA designated
airports," and it doesn't effect my insurance.

Of course, that's my experience. Yours may differ ;-)

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (his)
1948 Luscombe 8E (hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (ours)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
This data, from the FAA website, seems to fly in the face of the
oft-quoted statistic that "we're losing 2 airports a month in the U.S.:

(In case the formatting gets screwed up, the data is showing a net GAIN
of 243 airports from 2002 to 2004!)
************************************************** *****************

If you examine the figures, the growth is in private airports. Most of those
are non-factors if you're using aviation as transportation.

KB

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
This data, from the FAA website, seems to fly in the face of the
oft-quoted statistic that "we're losing 2 airports a month in the U.S.:
[...]
Heck, even the number of public use airports appears to have risen.
Why is AOPA saying otherwise?

Well, either the FAA stats are wrong, or AOPA's wrong, or you're misquoting
AOPA (where do they say that?). (The number of public airports that closed,
according to the FAA stats, is indeed more than one per month, even though
more than that have opened.)

--Gary

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
This data, from the FAA website, seems to fly in the face of the
oft-quoted statistic that "we're losing 2 airports a month in the U.S.:
[...]
Heck, even the number of public use airports appears to have risen.
Why is AOPA saying otherwise?

Well, either the FAA stats are wrong, or AOPA's wrong, or you're
misquoting AOPA (where do they say that?). (The number of public airports
that closed, according to the FAA stats, is indeed more than one per
month, even though more than that have opened.)

Each one tell their own truth, that's politics both are right but not
correct!