Req please - Atlanta Area

[ddave]

Hi guys.

Im off to ATL for 4 days in august, staying in he renaissance with the spotter package, this will be my first time here and im looking to spend a day out and about doing some of the local airfields.

Has anyone on here any recent experinces of place like:-

Covington

Gwinnett County

McCollum

Fulton County

Or any others in the area - I will def be doing Peachtree DeKolb as well as these, emailed them last week and got a reply saying they welcome spotters and have a restauraunt and spotting area. Also found an english pub called the Manchester which serves a "Blue Moon" steak - def gonna spend some time in here i think ;D

Regards

Dave

[Deleted]

Dave,

I went to Atlanta last year and spent 4 days at the Renaissance, I don't know if you have been before, but the balcony outside your room makes it very hard to leave to visit anywhere else. I was going to go to Peachtree last year but changed my mind, took the wife around Atlanta to visit some of the sights for a few hours before going back to the Renaissance.

I know that a few lads on this site have been to some of the other airfields, I am sure they will be in touch. Peachtree have their own website, and they have a viewing area.

Enjoy Atlanta it's great, I hope to visit again one day. The bar food in the Renaissance is great, as is the beer.

I did a report on Atlanta if you go back on the further afield to June last year you will find it.

Happy Days

Bob

[northbynorthwest]

You have mail.

[ddave]

Saw your logs Bob - cant wait and going to try to do one big US trip a year. After this we fly out to St Maarten for a week.

Thanks for the Mail Ian.

Once ive been over and been to some of these I will post how I went on over there.

Dave

[columbo]

Atlanta is great. If you like steak then try "Malones" ask the concierge for directions as its a few mins walk away, he will no doubt get the courtesy bus to take you and arrange to pick you up, thats what happened to us anyway. Peachtree is a doddle to find and is good for photos, it has shelter there if the heat gets too much. If you need directions let me know, the best way is on the train. The people are very friendly, we got talking too a couple at Peachtree and they wanted us too go back to theirs for a beer and a chat. However lets just say after a while the lady got, ermm well lets just say err a little erm too friendly with comments and we decided to go back to ATL. Looking back, I wish I went to try her steak now. Freight at ATL tends to move more on a weekday night and you should be able to read them off, I could and I always had too much Miller inside. At night you will see Learjet and MU2 freight planes, a change from the usual.

As for biz, if there is a conference at the Renny then most biz will park in front of you (slightly to the left) and the passengers walk across the car park to the Hotel.

Keep an eye out for the Feds prisoner plane that comes to collect and drop off crims, this parks in the biz area and quite interesting to watch. Dont forget to raise a beer to them and give a polite wave.

At either end of the Hotel there are windows that you can read stuff off, the right hand side is where they park the CRJ's, keep a close eye on them as they do move them frequent.

As for photography from the Hotel, well I can definatley say I've been to worse places :-)

Steve

p.s I recommend the breakfast, a great salad and fruit buffet and an egg chef that makes omlettes the size of Belgium.

[Deleted]

Dave,

Your welcome, enjoy your trip, don't forget to take a hat and plenty of suntan cream as it will be very hot. Also plenty of biro's and an empty log book as you will need them.

Happy days

Bob

[Deleted]

To give some idea on numbers we logged the following:

Peachtree = 155 frames, of which 25 were biz jets

Fulton County = 39 frames, of which 10 were biz jets

HTH,

GC

[john1958]

And IF you can drag yourself away, and have access to a car......Marietta, ALWAYS some nice Hercs sitting there....plus assorted gate guards!

John

[steveh]

Dave,

I have just returned from a 3 night stay and all I can say is WOW.. If it is Delta and Air Tran you require then this is the place.

I lost count on how many aircraft I logged, After going through my log`s I think I needed not far of 500. I Will try and post it this week along with some photo`s from room 631, The last time I was at ATL was back in 2001.

SBS is required to tie everything up as you can`t read them landing on the far runways.

Regards

Steve...

[john1958]

Steve, looking forward to your log and the pics!!!!!! :-)

John

[northbynorthwest]

Even though ATL is a hub for Delta, it is more of a "Rolling Hub" with multiple arrival banks that blend into one another rather than having a mass of arrivals then a mass of departures of said arrivals followed by another mass of arrivals, etc, etc. That being said, 4pm - 9pm is pretty much the busiest part of the day. Mid to late afternoon into the early evening is also prime time for thunderstorms to pop up on an almost daily basis in the ATL area, which can lead to some great photo opportunities.

The Renaissance faces south, which makes photoraphy a challenge, especially on bright sunny days. You do get many Delta aircraft parked in front of the hotel as they are prepped for later flights - 777s all the way to DC9s. Operational spares are kept here too. ASA Barbie Jets are parked west of here by their hangars. Omni aircraft are also often parked just east of the hotel - their first 777 was parked there a couple of days ago. Sports charters park in the same area with the FBO - used to be called Atlantic Aviation, just recently renamed. Very little business traffic here - most use the other airports around ATL. The Prison Service MD80s come in once/twice a week and park just east of the FBO. They normally arrive around 11am - I often see they as I drive into work. It is fun to watch the loading of the "passengers". Sometimes other carreris sub in a 737 - watch for 2-3 busses with very small windows on the ramp, this is a sure sign of an impending arrival.

Other airports around the area worth visiting are Griffin (35 miles south), Newnan (35 miles southwest), Falcon Field in Peachtree City, Peachtree-De Kalb, Fulton County, Cobb County, and Clayton County airports. Just remember that the ATL area is massive and it will take a lot of time to get between airports. Traffic is really bad and Georgia drivers are terrible - I have survived here for almost two years now and have seen more accidents / more stupid driver tricks than in my entire lifetime. Also, in the heat of the summer, few G/A aircraft operate due to the heat and turbulence. Most hangars will be closed unless needed to open to move aircraft due to the heat. So overall you will tend to see very little activity around the G/A airports except for early morning / late evening during the summer months. Overall, in August, I would say give driving a couple of hundred miles to visit these airfields would not be time well spent. Springtime as well as late Sept / October would be far better for exploring the G/A fields.

Around the ATL airport, most eateries are around Virginia Avenue, which is fairly adjacent to the Renaissance and Delta's headquarters. The Manchester Arms, despite its unfortunate name, is just excellent. Very, very good food, and a good selection of English beer, including Boddingtons on tap. And yes, it was opened by people who were from Manchester (since returned to the UK, but sold to friends of theirs who have continued to improve the place.) The downside is that it is a fair hike west of the Renaissance along Virginia Ave - and there are very few busses. Walking there would sap your strength in the heat - and also would put you in a fairly bad area along Virginia Avenue west of Interstate 85. Lots of panhandlers and pretty dodgy looking people there. I would NOT walk there from the hotel. Other places to eat in very close proximity are Malones and the Landmark Diner - good value / huge portions / great desserts. Chain restaurants inclue Ruby Tuesdays, McDonalds, the Waffle House and Quiznos are all right there too. There is also a really sad Irish place called Irish Bred - a chain of bars which I really do not care for. Spondivits is a bar / airport employee hangout. Behind the Landmark Diner is an excellent coffee shop called Joffreys run by friends of mine - often have live music in the evenings. Overall, you certainly wont go hungry in the area around the hotel.

Hope this all helps.

[ddave]

Thanks for all the info guys. Main reason to visit is to make a big hole in my remaining Delta. Would also be nice to finish off my remaining AirTran ( need about 1/3 rd of them). Im gonna have to visit somewhere as 4 days in the room looking at Delta would drive me mad - lol.

Would be nice to see Steves log too ;D

Regards

Dave