Atlanta Pilots Fulton County Question

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kyleb

Final Approach
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Drake the Outlaw
I was looking at Fulton County (FTY) airport, (which is the second closest GA field to downtown Atlanta) on Airnav and it only shows 60 aircraft based on the field. Conversely, the other "near town" airport (PDK) has 344 aircraft on the field. RYY, the third closest airport to the city, has 283 aircraft based there.

My question is "Why is such a convenient airport so poorly utilized?" It appears that there is a fair amount of unused space around the FTY, so it doesn't seem to be a space problem.

What's the scoop? Is there pressure not to house more aircraft? FTY is in an industrial area, so it isn't like the neighbors are gonna put up a big protest. Is there some other master plan for the space? It makes no sense to me.
 
All the wealth is on the north side of Atlanta.
 
Velocity173 said:
All the wealth is on the north side of Atlanta.
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Mostly, but many of those aircraft owners are driving way out of town (Cartersville, Cherokee County, Calhoun, Pickens County, Stockmar, Paulding County) to find hangar space. FTY would be a preferable location for many of those owners. In my personal situation, I'm 12 miles from FTY, but am based at VPC, which is 30 miles from home.
 
All I know about FTY is they wanted to charge me $750 landing fee and $110 security fee to come in Tuesday evening AFTER the Super Bowl. In a Cherokee.
 
BarryCooper said:
All I know about FTY is they wanted to charge me $750 landing fee and $110 security fee to come in Tuesday evening AFTER the Super Bowl. In a Cherokee.
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That’s absurd.
 
I live in middle GA and have flown into KRYY and KPDK numerous times for various reasons. I've never flown into FTY or any airport on the west side except Falcon Field in Peachtree City. I don't know if that means anything but it may indicate that most out of town pilots have little reason to gain access to that area.
 
FTY doesn't want those "little" planes there; moreso than the others.
 
wayne said:
FTY doesn't want those "little" planes there; moreso than the others.
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Any thoughts on why? Property tax money , grant money, and jobs are all in play. Why not encourage growth?
 
rbridges said:
I live in middle GA and have flown into KRYY and KPDK numerous times for various reasons. I've never flown into FTY or any airport on the west side except Falcon Field in Peachtree City. I don't know if that means anything but it may indicate that most out of town pilots have little reason to gain access to that area.
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I think this is a part of it. I live in Atlanta, and I can't think of any reason you'd want to land in that area. It's not that convenient to anything unless you're going to Six Flags. Just not in a good area of Atlanta for a few reasons including convenience.
 
kyleb said:
Any thoughts on why? Property tax money , grant money, and jobs are all in play. Why not encourage growth?
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Are you really expecting the City of Atlanta or Fulton County to do anything logically? o_O If they get some dollars for their next election campaign, sure. Or maybe a little under the table. Otherwise I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting for them to do something useful.

Not sure if it's the county, city or the airport; PDK is in Dekalb County and FTY is in Fulton County. Signature wanting $8.35 / gal for 100LL is a big "go away!" sign. Fuel is very pricey. There are no t-hangars. Runway 8 was closed and they are not building t-hangars, just more large/corporate hangars. At least that's what I've heard so far. Several years ago Signature made a requirement for a large liability to let an owner drive their car out on the ramp to their plane; $2 million comes to mind, but it was years ago and a friend had a plane there not me. We were guessing that someone may have tagged a jet or turboprop with their SUV. Oddly Hill didn't have the same requirement so he switched over to Hill for the tie-down.

BrianNC said:
I think this is a part of it. I live in Atlanta, and I can't think of any reason you'd want to land in that area. It's not that convenient to anything unless you're going to Six Flags. Just not in a good area of Atlanta for a few reasons including convenience.
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We used to live in the heart of Vinings (house is on the market) and moved just 3 miles away to 285 & Atlanta Rd. FTY is very convenient to me. :D

I used to fly out of there with a club. I loved the location. I was hoping they would put in t-hangars as it's the closest airport to me. The big downside to me is the fuel price. :eek: 100LL at Hill is expensive, but not insane like at Signature. Go just 18 nm west to Stockmar and 100LL is only $3.98 gal. That's more than $2/gal cheaper than Hill and less than half the price of what Signature wants. That's what we used to do all the time when my friend had his Commander 112A based there.
 
BrianNC said:
Other than that reason. :D
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Yep, for others flying in I recommend PDK over FTY. Largely it's a better option. If one is getting a car and coming in from the west then FTY is a good option, but there are lots of options in the metro area and FTY just doesn't have a great edge. The ILS at FTY gets one lower than PDK's ILS, but the weather is pretty yucky at that point.
 
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