Operational details of the air transportation system

Air transportation systems worldwide consist of several common features-aircraft are parked at airports, taxi from the parking area to a runway, use the runway to take off, then fly to some destination airport where the aircraft lands at a runway, taxis back to a parking area, and parks. There are substantial variations in the operational details of how this works under different conditions, including the experience of a passenger on a commercial flight, which is how most people experience the system, passengers on modern private aircraft, and passengers or pilots in older general aviation aircraft. Although much of the current chapter is focused on the common commercial flight experience, notations are provided as to what differences one can expect across different types of operations.