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In a Swiss001 video, he said that the Twin Otter was a general aviation (GA) plane. But then in another video, he said that the Twin Otter was an airliner. Obviously, he's not a credible source, but it does make me wonder: Can airliners be GA aircraft planes at the same time?

(I mean, some airlines do operate King Airs to remote destinations)

Basil Bourque
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Air Canada 001
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    Who said this, in which videos? Why is he not a credible source? – CatchAsCatchCan May 24 '20 at 21:39
  • @CatchAsCatchCan: I don't remember the videos, and obviously he is not a credible source because he is a youtube that creates gaming videos, and not an educational channel, and even some educational channels might be uncredible – Air Canada 001 May 24 '20 at 21:45
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    Why is it obvious that 'he is not a credible source'? I have no idea who you're talking about. Either explain properly where you got your references so that we can follow the train of thought, or consider whether you can reword the question to omit the noise. – CatchAsCatchCan May 24 '20 at 21:57
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    See also At what point does an aircraft become an airliner? – Greg Hewgill May 24 '20 at 21:58
  • It depends on the context. For example, under CASA regulations they set the boundary between the two at a certain gross weight and this means there are a whole new set of rules for GA. At the moment our industry is undergoing change trying to better define the rules. Have a look at the differences between CAR30 and a part 145 if you are interested (but it is dry reading). EASA and FAA will define it different as well although I am not as familiar with those as I do not teach them. So you would need to go look at the regulation under the jurisdiction that the aircraft is operating. – Craig May 25 '20 at 02:19
  • I think in the US you would consider anyone flying under Part 91 to be GA and airlines, charter, and package to be commercial. So corporate jets would be GA but a Cessna 206 flying packages would not. – JScarry May 25 '20 at 18:07
  • @CatchAsCatchCan : It doesn't really matter anyway since it is not the main part of the question, it was just something to start off with. – Air Canada 001 May 26 '20 at 14:22
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    @CatchAsCatchCan Presumably, he isn't a credible source because he has no relevant credentials that might give him credibility. In other words, why would a gaming channel YouTuber be regarded as an authority on terminology relating to a subject they have likely not studied in any formal capacity? I think that statement doesn't merit any further justification, nor would such justification actually be useful to the question. – Klaycon May 26 '20 at 20:00

3 Answers3

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GA refers to why you fly your plane, not what kind of plane it is. For example, John Travolta has (had?) his own personal Boeing 707, which is the first generation of jet airliner from Boeing. When he flew it, it was not under scheduled service, so it would be classified as a "general aviation" flight.

Greg Hewgill
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    Yes, this. And we have a local airline that flies Cessna 206s. – Michael Hall May 25 '20 at 03:23
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    And who is after big things buy A380. I am not sure if it is really not for charter flights or something the like but as it is for "undisclosed customer" who imagine "cannot wait" (and airlines can?), I think this is likely. Then that huge aircraft would join the fleet of general aviation. – h22 May 25 '20 at 09:58
  • It's not all that uncommon to have 737s &c, and even the occasional 747 owned & used by private individuals - that is, not corporate or charter. So they'd arguably be "General Aviation", no? – jamesqf May 25 '20 at 16:41
  • Military flights are also classed as "general aviation", so, when SAM 29000 is carrying the president around, that's technically a general-aviation flight. :-P – Vikki May 25 '20 at 21:04
  • @Sean, where did you hear this? – Michael Hall May 25 '20 at 21:59
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    @Sean Military flights are not considered as GA because, among other things, they don”t have to follow any of the FARS—including Part 91. The president always flies on military aircraft, so no, he’s not flying GA. – JScarry May 26 '20 at 03:36
  • @JScarry but there is executive one for a reason, right? I read somewhere one of the president flew on normal scheduled airliner and had executive one callsign. – vasin1987 May 26 '20 at 11:10
  • @vasin1987 True. There is an Executive One callsign. If Trump flew on his own plane, it would be Executive One, but I don’t thnk he ever did. According to Wikipedia, President Nixon flew on a scheduled airliner in 1973, but I don’t think any other Presidents have. – JScarry May 26 '20 at 14:39
  • @vasin1987: In this day and age, I doubt that will ever happen again. The Secret Service is very strict about how the President is transported. Generally, they will use The Beast, one of the HMX-1's VH-3D or VH-60N helicopters, or one of the VC-25As. If necessary, they bring all of those with them. Moving the President actually requires moving a small village, so there wouldn't be much of a point to using a commercial flight, as e.g. The Beast cannot be transported in a normal cargo plane. They only use fuel from US military bases, if there are none, they even bring their own fuel! – Jörg W Mittag May 26 '20 at 17:45
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    The opposite of what you ask about did actually happen in this millennium: When George W. Bush made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to the troops in Iraq, he flew on one of the VC-25As, but they pretended to be an executive jet. It was also one of the rare occasions where the President was not using The Beast to travel by car. Instead, he travelled to the airport in an unmarked car and without a motorcade. He also famously flew to an aircraft carrier using a jet (which then had the callsign Navy One). – Jörg W Mittag May 26 '20 at 18:00
  • When it looked like an important vote was coming to a tie and the Vice President's tie breaker vote would be needed, Vice President Al Gore used a US Airways Shuttle flight to get to Washington because there was no other way to get there in time. That might be the closest to what you are asking for in recent times. (Both President Bush and President Obama were flown to their homes by the Presidential Airlift Group after they left office, and the callsigns were Executive One in both cases, but they were actually using one of the HMX-1 helicopters, not a commercial flight.) – Jörg W Mittag May 26 '20 at 18:04
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    @JScarry, saying the military doesn't have to follow FARs is a very loose and misleading statement. I am not going to debate details here, but we follow the same rules as everyone else when operating in the National Airspace System. – Michael Hall May 26 '20 at 20:52
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General aviation (GA) is one of several classes of aviation activity, military and commercial being the two other main ones.

The airliner is a class of aircraft designed to carry a significant payload of passengers and perhaps also freight.

Most airliners are used for commercial operation, both scheduled and charter, but not all are.

Guy Inchbald
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I might be a little late here but I don't remember calling the Twin Otter a GA plane. I think I have always considered the Twin Otter an airliner but the word GA plane might have slipped out there. Anyway, for that classification, it doesn't really matter what plane you use but rather what you do with it. The Twin Otter is mostly used as an airliner for example to bring paying passengers to remote islands. If you, a commercial pilot, make money with your flight, and it's scheduled, then it is most likely considered an airliner flight. If you, a ppl pilot, rent a plane and take your family flying, then that's a GA flight - even in a 737.

Swiss001
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    Thanks for your contribution and welcome to AviationStackExchange. This is a site mainly for factual answers to questions that can be cited with credible references. To comment on another poster’s post, please use the Comment function once you have enough reputation points. While you are right about the differences in GA and airliner being more about the reason it’s being used, it is not as simple as that. Being such, I am unable to find the term “airliner” in the FAR/AIM. And, airline in reference to a company is not in Parts 91, 135, & 136 under which you can fly commercially. – Dean F. Jun 06 '20 at 22:45
  • Although I can not find an official FAA definition of airliner, I would classify an airliner as an aircraft above a certain weight and/or seating capacity used in the service of a scheduled carrier. Others may differ on the definition. But, I have paid lift fees to fly in many Twin Otters for skydiving. None of which I would classify as an airliner. – Dean F. Jun 06 '20 at 22:54