Originally Posted by
R_Strowe
Thank you for making my point. There are, on a typical day in the US, just over 5 times the number of General Aviation flights, nearly 5 times the number of Air Taxi (135 charter) flights, and almost 6 times the number of airline (121 Air Carrier) flights.
https://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/air-traffic/
Sorry, but your military flights are a drop in the bucket. Civilian aviation easily outnumbers military by a total factor of 15. You simply aren’t using that much airspace.
R_Strowe
Maybe not but, when you compare the numbers, a majority of the civilian planes will be above 1000ft and, unless you look at the small wooden home builts and Cubs, very few will be at below 100kts IAS. Obviously, there are exceptions like agricultural spraying planes but, normally, you won't see GA aircraft below 1000ft unless they are in the vicinity of a GA airport and that will normally be taking off or in the landing pattern. One thing Franklin didn't mention is that when military aircraft are flying fast and low, they are, more often than not, using terrain following radar to guide them. I know I wouldn't want to be flying something like a Glasair III at 200 ft at 250kts IAS. The Glasair is a fully aerobatic plane but, that said, I'd be worried about not being fast enough on the controls to avoid terrain and man made hazards(high tension lines would be a good example)