DeKalb–Peachtree Airport

DeKalb–Peachtree Airport

Aerial view, circa 2004
IATA: PDK – ICAO: KPDK – FAA LID: PDK
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner DeKalb County
Serves Atlanta, Georgia
Location Chamblee, Georgia
Elevation AMSL 1,003 ft / 306 m
Coordinates 33°52′32″N 084°18′07″W / 33.87556°N 84.30194°W / 33.87556; -84.30194Coordinates: 33°52′32″N 084°18′07″W / 33.87556°N 84.30194°W / 33.87556; -84.30194
Map
PDK

Location of airport in Georgia

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
3R/21L 6,001 1,829 Concrete
3L/21R 3,746 1,142 Asphalt
16/34 3,967 1,209 Asphalt
Helipads
Number Length Surface
ft m
H1 56 17 Concrete
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft operations 202,491
Based aircraft 447

DeKalb–Peachtree Airport (IATA: PDK, ICAO: KPDK, FAA LID: PDK) is a county owned, public use airport in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States.[1] The airport is located in Chamblee, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta. It is also known commonly as Peachtree–DeKalb Airport, or simply PDK. Other names (rarely used) include Peachtree Airport, DeKalb Airport, or DeKalb County Airport. ASOS weather reports are produced 24 hours per day as "Chamblee". It has one airline service with Southern Airways Express.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 1,784 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[2] 393 enplanements in 2009, and 463 in 2010.[3] It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a reliever airport.[4]

History

The property was originally part of Camp Gordon, a World War I era training camp. In 1940, the United States government authorized construction of a military airport on the site. The airport began operations on March 22, 1941, during early World War II as Naval Air Station Atlanta. Barracks, constructed at the facility during World War II, became classrooms in late 1948 for Southern Technical Institute, a new engineering technology school created by Georgia Tech for former soldiers. Leased from the county by the United States Navy, the airport was converted from military to civilian use from 1957 to 1959. The Naval Air Station subsequently moved to Marietta on the south side of Dobbins Air Reserve Base. Like NAS Atlanta, the Southern Technical Institute moved from PDK in 1958, to land donated by Dobbins. It is now known as Southern Polytechnic State University.[5] Naval Air Station Atlanta was closed by BRAC action in 2009. In 1973 PDK was the site of a Learjet crash, resulting in seven fatalities. It was determined that the crash resulted from "The loss of engine thrust during takeoff due to ingestion of birds by the engines, with the aircraft striking an apartment building and burning in a complex just south of the airport. Large flocks of birds were attracted to an adjacent DeKalb County sanitation Landfill (operational in summer 1962 and finally closed in early 1975) which had become a flight safety issue long before the crash, after several minor bird strikes in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[6]

Facilities and aircraft

Dekalb–Peachtree Airport covers an area of 745 acres (301 ha) at an elevation of 1,003 feet (306 m) above mean sea level. It has three runways: 3R/21L (formerly 2R/20L)[7] is 6,001 by 100 feet (1,829 x 30 m) with a concrete surface; 3L/21R (formerly 2L/20R)[7] is 3,746 by 150 feet (1,142 x 46 m) with an asphalt surface; and 16/34, which is 3,967 by 150 feet (1,209 x 46 m) with an asphalt surface. It also has one helipad designated with a concrete surface measuring H1 is 56 by 56 feet (17 x 17 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending August 31, 2010, the airport had 202,491 aircraft operations, an average of 554 per day: 99.9% general aviation and 0.1% military. At that time there were 447 aircraft based at this airport: 68% single-engine, 17% multi-engine, 11% jet, and 5% helicopter.[1]

The airport has over 100 hangars. It is the second-busiest airport in Georgia, behind Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), in the number of flight operations per year and is the seventh-busiest general aviation (non-airline) airport in the US.[8] PDK helps to relieve ATL of smaller-aircraft traffic. It is used by helicopters for metro Atlanta's four major news TV stations (WSB-TV 2, WAGA-TV 5, WXIA-TV 11, WGCL-TV 46) as the base for electronic news gathering from the air. PDK is also home to The AutoPILOT Magazine, an advertorial publication covering all things aviation-related. A new control tower was built in 1988, and stands at 130 feet (40 m) tall. Many of the old NAS Atlanta buildings still remain. The largest houses offices for PDK administration, flight schools, and the Civil Air Patrol, as well as the Downwind restaurant, with an aviation-themed decor and an open deck overlooking the active runways.[9] Adjacent to that building is a children's playground, Georgia's first aviation park.

Epps Aviation, the airport's full service fixed-base operator is located on 21 acres in a modern facility, elsewhere on the airport grounds.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
JetSmarter Charter: Boca Raton, White Plains
Southern Airways Express Destin, Memphis

Economic impact

DeKalb Peachtree Airport occupies a prime location inside the Perimeter, located less than fifteen minutes from Atlanta's major business centers in Buckhead and Midtown.[10] This proximity drives the 600 operations logged daily by the airport which makes it the second busiest in the state of Georgia behind Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest, located eighteen miles (29 km) away.

In 1997, DeKalb Peachtree Airport was one of the largest tax contributors of DeKalb County, behind The Southern Company and Bellsouth but receives no taxpayer dollars for operations. The 1997 study found that in addition to 762 aviation-related jobs at the airport, there were indirect benefits of $14 million in annual visitor spending as well as 3,600 non-airport jobs driven by airport activities.[10]

While not primarily driven by the airport, a 30-acre (120,000 m2) mixed-use project called International Village is under development near the airport with a planned completion date of 2009. The previously residential property was purchased by Dekalb County as part of a noise mitigation buyout and ultimately sold to the developer, PDK Investments, LLC, in 2005.[11] The project name references the cultural and ethnic diversity of the surrounding neighborhoods and the Buford Highway corridor. The development is slated for a mix of low- and mid-rise commercial and retail space and will also host a boutique hotel and conference center as well as an amphitheater and green space for community festivals.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for PDK (Form 5010 PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. Effective April 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Enplanements for CY 2008" (PDF, 1.0 MB). CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. December 18, 2009. External link in |work= (help)
  3. ↑ "Enplanements for CY 2010" (PDF, 189 KB). CY 2010 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2011. External link in |work= (help)
  4. ↑ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF, 2.03 MB). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. External link in |work= (help)
  5. ↑ Duguay, J. C. (June 2000). "DeKalb Peachtree Airport – Our History". DeKalb Peachtree Airport. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
  6. ↑ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19730226-0
  7. 1 2 Bonita A. Martin, Air Traffic Manager, DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Traffic Control Tower (March 7, 2013). "DEKALB-PEACHTREE ATCT LETTER TO AIRMEN NO. 13-01, RUNWAY IDENTIFICATION CHANGE". FAA. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  8. ↑ http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/infographics/ain-interactive-traffic-busiest-airports-us
  9. ↑ http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/pdkairport/index.asp
  10. 1 2 3 Glier, Ray (October 19, 2007). "DeKalb Peachtree proves to be economic driver". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
  11. ↑ Prophet, Tatiana (March 5, 2005). "'Village' to rise at DeKalb airport". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
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