DeKalb-Peachtree Airport
Encyclopedia
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport is a municipal general aviation
airport
located in Chamblee, Georgia
, just northeast of Atlanta. It is operated by the local government of DeKalb County, Georgia
, and 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".
as Naval Air Station Atlanta
, moved to Marietta
on the south side of Dobbins Air Reserve Base
until it was closed in 2009. The property was part of Camp Gordon, a World War I
era training camp. Leased from the county by the United States Navy
, it was converted from military to civilian use from 1957 to 1959. The former barracks located there during the war became classroom
s in late 1948 for Southern Technical Institute, a new engineering technology school created by Georgia Tech
for former soldiers. Like NAS Atlanta, that school moved around 1958 to land donated by Dobbins, and is now known as Southern Polytechnic State University
. In 1973 it was the site of a Learjet crash
.
s and several hundred aircraft based there. It is the second-busiest airport in Georgia behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
in the number of flight operations per year (around 250,000), and helps to relieve ATL of smaller-airplane traffic
. It also has a helipad
, 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 (39.6 m) tall. The main runway
(20L) is 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) long.
, located less than fifteen minutes from Atlanta's major business centers in Buckhead
and Midtown
. 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 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.
While not primarily driven by the airport, a 30 acres (121,405.8 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. 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.
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
located in Chamblee, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, just northeast of Atlanta. It is operated by the local government of DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
, and 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".
History
The airport originally began during early World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as Naval Air Station Atlanta
Naval Air Station Atlanta
General D. Lucius Clay National Guard Center is a military facility located south of Marietta, Georgia, United States. It is located immediately south of Dobbins Air Reserve Base and shares its runways....
, moved to Marietta
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...
on the south side of Dobbins Air Reserve Base
Dobbins Air Reserve Base
Dobbins Air Reserve Base or Dobbins ARB is a United States air reserve base located in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb about northwest of Atlanta. It was named in honor of Captain Charles M. Dobbins, a World War II C-47 pilot who died near Sicily...
until it was closed in 2009. The property was part of Camp Gordon, a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
era training camp. Leased from the county by the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, it was converted from military to civilian use from 1957 to 1959. The former barracks located there during the war became classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
s in late 1948 for Southern Technical Institute, a new engineering technology school created by Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
for former soldiers. Like NAS Atlanta, that school moved around 1958 to land donated by Dobbins, and is now known as Southern Polytechnic State University
Southern Polytechnic State University
Southern Polytechnic State University is a public, co-educational state university located in Marietta, Georgia, USA just northwest of Atlanta...
. In 1973 it was the site of a Learjet crash
1973 DeKalb-Peachtree Airport Learjet 24 crash
On February 26, 1973, a private Learjet 24 crashed shortly after take-off from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Chamblee, Georgia, United States. The aircraft, registration N454RN, owned by a private corporation, struck birds shortly after lifting off. Air traffic control advised the flight crew of...
.
Facilities
The airport still has 765 acres (3.1 km²) of land, with over 100 hangarHangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
s and several hundred aircraft based there. It is the second-busiest airport in Georgia behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport , known locally as Atlanta Airport, Hartsfield Airport, and Hartsfield–Jackson, is located seven miles south of the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
in the number of flight operations per year (around 250,000), and helps to relieve ATL of smaller-airplane traffic
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...
. It also has a helipad
Helipad
Helipad is a common abbreviation for helicopter landing pad, a landing area for helicopters. While helicopters are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where a helicopter can safely...
, used by helicopters for metro Atlanta's four major news TV stations (WSB-TV
WSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
2, WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
5, WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV, virtual channel 11.1 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Atlanta, Georgia. Popularly known by its 11 Alive moniker, WXIA is owned by the Gannett Company in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL...
11, WGCL-TV
WGCL-TV
WGCL-TV, virtual channel 46.1 is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Atlanta, Georgia area. Its city of license is Atlanta, and the station is owned by Meredith Corporation, making it the largest-market CBS station not owned by the network...
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
Control tower
A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...
was built in 1988, and stands at 130 feet (39.6 m) tall. The main runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
(20L) is 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) long.
Economic impact
DeKalb Peachtree Airport occupies a prime location inside the PerimeterInterstate 285
Interstate 285 is an Interstate Highway loop encircling Atlanta, Georgia, for . I-285 is also known as unsigned State Route 407 and is colloquially referred to as the Perimeter. Suburban sprawl has made it one of the most heavily traveled roadways in the United States, and portions of the highway...
, located less than fifteen minutes from Atlanta's major business centers in Buckhead
Buckhead (Atlanta)
Buckhead is the uptown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, comprising approximately the northern one-fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown...
and Midtown
Midtown Atlanta
Midtown is the second largest financial district in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown and SoNo to the south and the affluent residential and commercial district of Buckhead to the north...
. 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 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
BellSouth
BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...
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.
While not primarily driven by the airport, a 30 acres (121,405.8 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
Noise mitigation
Noise mitigation is a set of strategies to reduce noise pollution. The main areas of noise mitigation or abatement are: transportation noise control, architectural design, and occupational noise control...
buyout and ultimately sold to the developer, PDK Investments, LLC, in 2005. The project name references the cultural and ethnic diversity of the surrounding neighborhoods and the Buford Highway
Buford Highway
Buford Highway is an international community along and on either side of a stretch of Georgia State Route 13 in DeKalb County, Georgia. It begins just north of Midtown Atlanta, continues northeast through the towns of Brookhaven, Chamblee, and Doraville, and ends northeast of the Perimeter at the...
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.
Air Carriers and Destinations
External links
- DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (official site)
- Air Rail connection results for DeKalb Peachtree Airport from Airport Railways of the World (English)
- PDK Runway Incursions
- PDK Watch (Community watchdog organization monitoring PDK Airport)
- Open Dekalb, Inc. (Community organization- Brought legal action against PDK and DeKalb County, GA for failure to disclose PDK Airport public records)