Departing Atlanta Hartsfield in a Bonanza

Matt Gunderson

Matt Gunderson

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Matt Gunderson
Last week I had the opportunity to take my ATP CTP training at FlightSafety International in Atlanta, Georgia. Since the Signature FBO at ATL is just a short 5 minute walk to FlightSafety and my hotel, I thought...why not just fly my Beech Bonanza into Atlanta Hartsfield for the week?

The fees to stay on the Signature ramp for a week really weren't that bad, about $310. They waived the handling fee and, while the FBO building itself was quite underwhelming, the service was fantastic. They did not have 100LL, however, so I had to make a fuel stop on the way back to Cedar Rapids, otherwise I would have done both legs nonstop.

I attempted to make a video of my arrival coming into ATL on Sunday but somehow the memory on my GoPro got corrupted
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I obviously still have many things to learn about video from my good friend Martin Pauly. Anyway, I made a second attempt at a video on my departure out of ATL on Saturday morning.

Apologize for the audio quality, I do not yet have a fancy audio recorder. Enjoy the video!

 
Nice! I just rode the big iron out and back this week, sufe would have been nice to see out the front . . . .
 
That's pretty cool, but $310 for a week's tiedown sounds as if the want to discourage small planes!
 
Kenny Phillips said:
That's pretty cool, but $310 for a week's tiedown sounds as if the want to discourage small planes!
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$310 sounds high but a lot of big cities have parking garages that charge $50-$60 / day to park a car, so any time I can park an airplane in a major city for less than it costs to park a car, I view it as a good deal.
 
Ok. I'm impressed. I used to think it was a big deal that we flew our Bonanza into/out of KPHX.
 
JOhnH said:
Ok. I'm impressed. I used to think it was a big deal that we flew our Bonanza into/out of KPHX.
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Thanks! If you’ve ever watched Martin Pauly’s videos, you’ll know I have a lot to learn from him. He’s been to almost every class B airport in the US and made a video about it.
 
Matt Gunderson said:
Thanks! If you’ve ever watched Martin Pauly’s videos, you’ll know I have a lot to learn from him. He’s been to almost every class B airport in the US and made a video about it.
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Very few are masters of this game. You did great!
 
BrianNC said:
Nice! Were you nervous even a little bit? :D
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Great question. I’m not sure what it is about Atlanta but I found it to be much less stressful than other busy airports I’ve been too like Teterboro and Chicago Midway. I think the main difference was that I was quite certain what my runway and taxi route would be, where as at Chicago Midway the taxi route can be quite complicated.
 
Hank S said:
I'd be nervous a LOTTA bit going in and out of even PDK & RYY!!
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PDK isn't really that big of a deal once you've done it a few times. Everybody always talked about how busy it was and I never really found it to be bad. I did some training there flying out of there in a Sierra and also some training flying from KOPN to there in a 172.
 
Hank S said:
I'd be nervous a LOTTA bit going in and out of even PDK & RYY!!
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BrianNC said:
PDK isn't really that big of a deal once you've done it a few times. Everybody always talked about how busy it was and I never really found it to be bad. I did some training there flying out of there in a Sierra and also some training flying from KOPN to there in a 172.
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PDK - 2nd busiest airport in Georgia. ;) :D

Not a big deal after you get used to it, but it certainly can be hopping at times. I've been in line for departure and trying to figure out how I'm fitting into the mess on arrival (in VMC). The Tower folks do a great job and keep things moving well. It is a little different when you are on a left downwind in a twin parallel with a single, a few hundred feet higher than the single, with the single inside and turning inside to 3L and you're turning outside of them to 3R. :cool:

I could see how that would be a bit different for someone used to flying at untowered airports, especially so for those used to sleepy untowered airport.
 
Hank S said:
I'd be nervous a LOTTA bit going in and out of even PDK & RYY!!
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I have not been into PDK and my flight into RYY was early in the morning, but its probably not a fair comparison to compare ATL to PDK or RYY. With ATL (at least arriving IFR), approach has a long time to plan for your arrival and sequence you in through the arrival procedure and sequence you into the approach. And since the runways are all east west, its pretty easy to predict where they'll send you and what happens next. Really felt like no big deal.

Small airports, and especially really busy uncontrolled airports, on the other hand, are much more terrifying to me. In fact, probably one of the most terrifying airports I fly into is a little tiny airport near Cedar Rapids, IA that has a lot of spray-plane activity in the summer. Those guys either don't have radios or don't make calls, and fly into any runway they happened to be aligned with when coming back from a field, regardless of what runway everyone else is using. I'd happily fly into any Class B airport any day over flying into some of these small airports outside of radar coverage with no approach control. All a matter of perspective I suppose.
 
Last time I flew into RYY was just before Thanksgiving of 2017. It wasn’t terribly busy at the time so it was an easy in and out. They also didn’t mind my request to do a little pattern work either (yeah I’m serious @eman1200) which was nice. One of these days I’ve thought about going back down there for the Elevation Chophouse.
 
Last time I flew into PDK was for a Ga. Tech homecoming game. I thought I was really showing my team spirit by wearing my Tech hat and jersey. That is, until I saw a couple of Citations painted white and gold, and with the big GT.
 
Matt Gunderson said:
In fact, probably one of the most terrifying airports I fly into is a little tiny airport near Cedar Rapids, IA that has a lot of spray-plane activity in the summer. Those guys either don't have radios or don't make calls, and fly into any runway they happened to be aligned with when coming back from a field, regardless of what runway everyone else is using.
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Tipton?
 
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