Leg 5: KGSO-KATL
Pilot: Bryan K.
Greensboro turned out to be better than I had expected, with the big help of fellow Six Pack member, Ondra, who was also in town! I spent 4 nice days in North Carolina, but it was more than time I left. I want to spend some time in the Caribbeans during the Christmas holidays, so there’s no time to loose!
It’s not with great anticipation that I prepared my flight plan for the busy KATL. I actually swore in silence that it was part of our Six Pack route. My first intention was to do a nice VFR flight at a low altitude, following the Great Smoky Mountains down to Georgia. Since the weather did not want to cooperate, I instead opted for a night flight, hoping that air traffic would not be too bad when I approached KATL, one of the busiest hubs in the US, if not the world.
The weather was not great when I walked into the office to file my flight plan. The locals informed me that conditions would not be improving as I flew to the south. There was light rain in Atlanta, and visibility at KATL was degrading with every weather report.
“Acting” instead of “thinking”, I decided to go ahead, and quickly started the walk-around of my Conquest. As you can see, must of the locals decided to avoid the skies tonight.
Greensboro Clearance gave me the go-ahead for an IFR flight to Atlanta, and I was cleared to 9000’. Ground control then instructed me to taxi and hold short at runway 5. Just my luck, my quick taxi from the GA parking was prolonged by some arriving traffic. No doubt about it, the “flying gods” were against me tonight!
Once Delta 474 (Boeing 737-200 arriving from Cincinnati, Ohio) turned off the runway, I was cleared for takeoff. A light rain had just started, so I had to re-evaluate my takeoff speeds (did I mention the “flying gods” where against me tonight?!)
With a strong headwind, I slowly progressed toward Georgia. One of the only break in the dense cloud cover allowed me to take a peek at Charlotte (NC), as I cruised at 15 000’. My “good” luck continuing, I was also informed that visibility at KATL was deteriorating fast, and was now down to 2 miles. “GREAT!”, I told myself. “I am gonna be approaching one the busiest airspace in the States, and I will be blind!!!”
At about 60 nm out of KATL, Atlanta Center started vectoring me for landing. My TCAS was already lighted like a Christmas tree, and I had trouble keeping up with all the ATC chatter. I tried to focus on the planes I knew would be approaching at the same time as me, but it was almost an impossible task. I tuned all my navigational tools, and started concentrating on catching the glidescope for runway 26R. As you can see, I had some “close” company in doing so!!!
During my approach, I was simply bounced around by other (and bigger!!!) approaching traffic. Having completely missed the ILS, I called a “missed approach” and was vectored for a second try, this time on runway 27L. Traffic was a tad lighter, but visibility was at the bare minimums…. Just as I crossed the minimum safe altitude, I was able to spot the runway, and proceed. No doubt about it, landing was not my most gracious one, and I just thanked, for once, the “flying gods”, as Atlanta Ground sent me to a GA hangar in the south part of the terminal. Taxiing would not be long, and I would be able turn off the engines… and try to get my hands to stop shaking!!!
Cheers!