We had a previous discussion of how do you get to fly over Hartsfield Airport (ATL - Atlanta) without getting vectored. Several people volunteered that it was possible at 5,500’ north/south.
Well after three round trips between Florida and Louisville over the past week trying everything, I broke down and asked. The answer; “fagedaboudit!” unless you are VFR. AHHH!
IFR, you might as well try to land on the White House lawn - You’d have about the same success rate. (Disclaimer: The above was not intended as a suggestion or guidance - only a joke. Please don’t try to land on the White House lawn. If you are looking for a challenge, go ahead and try to fly IFR through Atlanta airspace!)
Actually, on my return trip from FMY (Page in Fort Meyers, FL) to 6I2 (Lebanon-Springfeild, KY, south of Lousiville), I got an IFR clearance through the Class B over Atlanta at 7000 feet. I had just refueled at MAC (Macon Smart Downtown) and was cleared to an interesection on the northeast side, LOGEN, and then to another on the north outside the Class B, NELLO. My other option was to go was east to AHN VOR. After I got to LOGEN, I asked for direct, and they cleared me direct to 6I2. My requested altitude was 8000, but they sent me through at 7000. I had to request 8000 later.
Now Marty,
On my inaugural trip home from Duluth last June in my brand new CirrusSR22, I was vectored because of thunderstorms to FLY DIRECT over Hartsfield @ 5000. ATC actually made me descend from 11,000 down to 5000, I thought , so I could enjoy the view(just joking). They could not have picked better timing. It really made my trip. And hey, you know voice that talks to you when you have Skywatch, that says “TRAFFIC_TRAFFIC” - Well that poor fellow almost ran out of breath-TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC. It was almost comical, but frankly I understand that I was in the safest spot in town. It was 9:30 PM in Atlanta. Go figure. At least that fellow wasnt yelling GUN GUN GUN or KNIFE KNIFE. Cirrusly, it was a GREAT moment in my new plane that really topped off a GREAT week!
Henry
N823HD
(based at Smart Downtown-Macon, Ga)
THe fun thing is to do touch and go’s at Hartsfield. I haven’t had the nerve or the time to do it yet but my instructor did. He prearranged permission to fly a 172 in at 2AM. He said it was a blast.
You can certainly tell when they are busy and when they aren’t. On one south to north over the top, Atlanta Approach called a guy and he didn’t respond after the first two calls. When he finally responded you heard “NXXX, this ATC thing works a whole lot better if when I talk you answer. Think you can handle that?” However, when I got north of the field it was much quieter and the next thing I heard was “Cirrus 913CD, is that one of those with the Darth Vader cockpit?” After which we had a nice conversation about the plane and where I was based. Only time I have ever been that relaxed with Atlanta Departure.
You got the exact route specified in the AFD under “Special Low Altitude Directional Routes” for northbound low altitude IFR flights overflying Atlanta. (P.361 in the AFD expiring 11/28/02). It says: “MCN Logen Nello (70 MSL, RNAV)”. The southbound route is “RMG V154 MCN (&) MSL”.
Yea, I got Logen/Nello once too, but while that is inside the Class be, it is well to the east side and certainly not over the top of ATL. I just file Harris (HRS), Dublin (DBN) and go to the east side.
I was just in Smart Downtown over the weekend on my return trip. First time. Pretty nice, field, courtesy car to go grad something to eat, etc. Sounded like they were getting ready to redo the field and FBO though or something…
It’s pretty much the same for all busy Class B airspace, late at night or other times when they are not busy, you can have some pretty interesting conversations.
I get a kick out of doing approaches into major airports, especially at night when they have the rabbit lights going and all the lights (whatever they are called) in the runway. Passengers also get a kick out of it.
Sadly, in our neck of the woods it used to be fun to land at Washington National Airport on off hours. The controllers were friendly and the scenery was fantastic.
Now, ALL GA operations are barred from the airport.
Sadly, in our neck of the woods it used to be fun to land at Washington National Airport on off hours. The controllers were friendly and the scenery was fantastic.
Now, ALL GA operations are barred from the airport.
That is one of my big regrets. When I used to live in the SF Bay area, I did the “Bay Tour” several times and it was always great. After moving to the DC area (about a year before the 9/11 attacks), I kept meaning to do a DC city tour from the air but never quite made time for it.