KPDK – Peachtree-DeKalb: The Downwind Cafe

February 2, 2023

Note: Normally I am reviewing restaurants approximately 1 hour flying distance from KORL. PDK is definitely further away, but it is a pretty common destination for business travelers. This one is meant for corporate pilots who are stuck in PDK for a long wait.

Destination: Atlanta’s #1 Executive Airport

Most corporate pilots from Florida have spent some time at Atlanta’s premier executive airport. It’s quite some distance from Atlanta-Hartsfield but very convenient to downtown Atlanta, the northern executive sections and the colorful and fun to visit Five Points area.

That’s a Plane Sense 24. Ours is already in the Hangar being looked at.

Today, Steve Scheiber and I flew Greenway’s Pilatus PC-24 up to PDK for some service at what is now called Aero Center Atlanta (formerly Epps Aviation). They are one of the more respected Pilatus service centers in the world.

Epps has changed ownership now but remains a respected Pilatus center. The history of Epps aviation is very impressive.

Many historical articles and items hang from the walls

I used to collect these posters as a kid. Glad to see them well preserved and hung out for display

The Downwind Cafe

The cafe is located in the same building as the tower and is accessed from the ramp by a set of stairs next to the big hangar. You will need someone with a PDK badge to let you in but the rampers are more than happy to do so. Besides, you get to see some very cool aircraft in the very large hangar between Aero Center Atlanta (formerly Epps Aviation) and the tower.

That door gets you to the stairs. To the right and out of the picture, are a lot of very cool aircraft like Phenoms, PC24s, CJs etc

The entrance is through a little hallway that also joins an external exit, which I never saw.

Somewhere to our right is an entrance from the front of the tower building

The interior is spacious with an outdoor porch, not used in February obviously!

It was too cold for the porch but we could still see the ramp to the left

PIREP

Actual cost: Priceless!

Aircraft Rental: You wouldn’t want to know
Fuel at PDK: It was A LOT
Fuel at Atlantic Aviation: None of my business!
Restaurant bill: $50ish (before tip)
Total flight time 4.1

The restaurant served very good food, similar to a sports bar. The prices were not too bad, especially for Atlanta. I had a grilled chicken which I did not pay for. Steve put everything on the company credit card but I got a glance at the bill and it was under $50 for the three of us, so certainly not Disney pricing(!)

Oh yes were joined by Scott from Pilatus Sales who have an office in the second floor of the Aero Center. He had some great stories about delivering Pilatus aircraft to strange parts of the country.

We took about 2 hours to relax, eat and drink coffee, while waiting for the plane to be finished. It was nothing major but the Greenway people are (gratefully) very picky about their airplanes and want everything 100% (A pilot’s dream)

The Flying Part

Well there is not much that compares to flying a corporate jet from ORL to PDK and back. I loved it.

As you can see we dealt with some weather both ways but the jet got over most of it easily

Steve has moved on to Southwest now so I don’t get to fly with him any more. Great guy, maybe we will do it again some time when he retires.

Here are some photos I took just for those of us with Shiny Jet Syndrome