America is blessed with more than 20,000 airports and heliports. The airlines only serve 540 of these airports, or less than 3 percent. Imagine how inadequate your car or truck would be if you could only drive on 3 percent of America's roads or highways.

Out of all these airports, today's General Aviation (GA) pilot has direct access to about 5,300 public-use airports. The rest are private airports, serving the needs of individuals, farmers, or small businesses, and GA pilots must obtain prior permission from the owner to use these facilities.