Atlanta TRACON (A80), Peachtree City, Georgia, USA
1,193,710 annual operations in 2017 (FAA ATADS)
Located 20 miles southwest of KATL and almost 30 miles from Downtown Atlanta, The A80 TRACON is one of the busiest control facilities in the world. It controls a huge area over north-central Georgia, as well as portions of South Carolina and Alabama, covering over 200 airports, including the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International (KATL).
Due to its sheer size, the A80 TRACON is divided into 4 main sectors: Atlanta, Macon, Columbus and Athens. However, only the Atlanta sector is available in our simulator; it extends 40nm around KATL up to 14,000ft. Class B airspace exists with a ceiling of 12,500ft over the Atlanta metropolitan area.
The A80 TRACON has a huge number of different positions and it is very difficult to find accurate and up-to-date information on the sectorization of the airspace, so the information below may not be 100% accurate.
ANW - North-West Approach -----\
ANE - North-East Approach |
ASW - South-West Approach |
ASE - South-East Approach |
DN - North Departure |
DS - South Departure |---> ATL positions
DE - East Departure |
DW - West Departure |
FN - Final North (RWYs 8/2 |
FC - Final Center (RWYs 9/27) |
FS - Final South (RWY 10/28) -----/
SNW - North-West Satellite
SNE - North-East Satellite
SSW - South-West Satellite
SSE - South-East Satellite
CSG - Columbus Approach
MCN - Macon Approach
AHN - Athens Approach
The airspace available in openscope is a combination of all ATL positions in the Atlanta sector.
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International
881,355 annual operations
Orignally built on an abandoned race track, the Atlanta Speedway, Candler Field was opened in 1926. Already in 1957, the airfield, then Atlanta Municipal Airport, was the busiest airport in the US, with more than two million passengers passing through it, and, between noon and 2 p.m. each day, it became the world’s busiest airport. Today, Hartsfield–Jackson is the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic and aircraft operations, handling over 100 million passengers and almsot one million flights yearly. It is the primary hub of Delta Airlines, who operates over 1,000 daily flights, so, to prevent confusion, taxiway Delta is referred to as taxiway Dixie.
In order to help controllers with the the extreme masses of traffic that fly in and out of Atlanta every day, procedures are desgined very carefully and revised regularly to minimize the workload. All procedures for jet aircraft are very automated so a controller’s main job is to maintain enough separation between aircraft arriving and departing the area.
ATL has 5 parallel runways, the newest one (10/28) opened in 2006. Normally, the inner runways (8R/26L & 9L/27R) are used for departures, while the outer runways (8L/26R & 9R/27L) are used for arrvivals. Since the construction of runway 10/28, triple simultaneous approaches are possible, increasing the capacity of the airport by 40%. This runway can also be used for departures to the east in extremely heavy traffic conditions, if controllers deem it necessary. The tables below show which runways are normally used for all RNAV procedures; ATC may always change the usage to improve traffic flow.
+-----------------+ +--------------------------+
| SIDs | | STARs (Landing East) |
| 8R/26L | 9L/27R | | 8L | 9R | 10 |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| CUTTN2 | BANNG2 | | CHPPR1 | GLAVN1 | GNDLF2 |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| KAJIN2 | GAIRY2 | | ONDRE1 | | SITTH2 |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| NASSA2 | HAALO2 | | OZZZI1 | | |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| PADGT2 | JACCC2 | +--------------------------+
+--------+--------+ | STARs (Landing West) |
| PENCL2 | PHIIL2 | | 26R | 27L | 28 |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| POUNC2 | PLMMR2 | | CHPPR1 | OZZZI1 | HOBTT2 |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| SMKEY2 | SMLTZ2 | | ONDRE1 | | JJEDI2 |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
| VARNM2 | VRSTY2 | | GLAVN1 | | |
+--------+--------+ +--------+--------+--------+
In openScope, KATL is running a west configuration, meaning that runways 26L, 27R and 28 are used for departures, while arrivals use runways 26R, 27L and 28.
DeKalb–Peachtree Airport
159,252 annual operations
15.6nm northeast of KATL
Originally a World War I military training camp, and then a World War II naval air station, it is now the second-busiest airport in Georgia, helping to relieve a lot of ATL’s general aviation traffic. It also has airline services operated by Ultimate Air Shuttle to Cincinnati, OH and Southern Airways Express to Memphis, TN and Destin, FL.
Gwinnett County Airport at Briscoe Field
94,462 annual operations
31.0nm northeast of KATL
Briscoe Field is a municipal airport which handles general aviation, mainly for flight training, as well as air taxi and air ambulance services.
Cobb County Int’l Airport - McCollum Field
62,126 annual operations
24.1nm northwest of KATL
McCollum Field opened in 1960, designed as a small field for general aviation and reliever airport for Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) and DeKalb-Peachtree (PDK). Aerial tours are very popular at the airport, largely because of its proximity to the scenic Appalachian Mountains.
Fulton County Airport
49,629 annual operations
9.7nm northwest of KATL
Also known as Charlie Brown Field, it is a fairly busy general aviation reliever airport with over 100 daily aircraft operations.
Dobbins Air Reserve Base
~14,000 annual operations
17.2nm northwest of KATL
Originally named Rickenbacker Field, the airport was used for flight training of naval aviators. In 1942, the Bell Aircraft Corporation opened an aircraft factory which manufactured a total of 668 B-29 Superfortresses before the plant closed in 1946. The airfield remained open after the war and became the home of Georgia Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force Reserve. In 1951, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation took over the old plant to build B-47 Stratojets. Over the years, the Lockheed plant has constructed the C-140 JetStar, C-130 Hercules, C-141 Starlifter, and C-5 Galaxy. To this day, Lockheed Martin continues the production of the C-130 Hercules, F-22 Raptor and the Joint Strike Fighter at Dobbins ARB.