This article catalogues experiences of the general aviation sector as it progressively encountered the challenges of COVID-19 in the early part of 2020. The article focuses primarily on the Australian marketplace as a contribution to the body of knowledge in an under-researched industry sector. The article draws on literature pertaining to prior pandemic experience to enquire about the level of precursory preparedness in the sector, and then utilises data from 12 semi-structured interviews with experienced industry participants locally and internationally. The key findings suggest that there has been a lack of applied learning by policy makers in the past, and that generic support on offer now does not address the long term resilience of the sector nor does it address a pathway for future sudden moments of dislocation. Policies which purport to support aviation should be crafted in a way that engages all levels of industry rather than be airline centric.

本文总结了通用航空行业在 2020 年初逐步遭遇 COVID-19 挑战时的​​经验。本文主要关注澳大利亚市场，作为对研究不足的行业领域知识体系的贡献。本文借鉴了有关以往大流行病经验的文献来询问该行业的前期准备水平，然后利用了对本地和国际经验丰富的行业参与者进行的 12 次半结构化访谈的数据。主要调查结果表明，政策制定者过去缺乏应用学习，现在提供的一般支持并不能解决该行业的长期弹性，也不能解决未来突发混乱时刻的途径。旨在支持航空业的政策应该以吸引各个行业层面的方式制定，而不是以航空公司为中心。