OK so Peachtree is not in Florida and it was certainly more than $300 for this flight, but it’s a restaurant on an airfield, and it’s a very popular destination.
I had the wonderful opportunity to be second in command of a Pilatus PC-24, owned by Greenway Auto Dealers. Steve Scheiber, the chief pilot, had asked me to fly in the PC-12 several times but this is the first time I would ride with him in the jet. The boss had a large dealer meeting in Atlanta, and the closest airport was KPDK.
The Flight
There was a line of weather over most of North Georgia. Nothing terribly convective but a lot of fog, rain and low ceilings. Originally scheduled for a 6am departure, we almost left the afternoon before. The boss ended up rescheduling the meeting for later in the day, so we scheduled a 1030am departure, which worked out great for me, and for lunch.
It was nice to fly in a jet. The PC-24 is a real performer. It seemed we were always leveling off, waiting for ATC to give us higher. We finally got to FL330 on the way to Atlanta.
As we descended in to the Atlanta Metroplex it began to get rather cloudy. We got some solid instrument time but it was very smooth. The ceilings at PDK were being reported at 400 overcast, which is definitely low IFR. The ILS to runway 21L minimums are 310 feet so this would be a close one.
We were in a “conga line” of several aircraft trying to get in to PDK. We were listening to them on the radio, dreading to hear that phrase “Atlanta departure, (insert N# here) is on the missed approach.” It didn’t happen this time, thankfully, and we broke out 100 feet above minimums. Steve performed an excellent landing and we turned off on one of the middle taxiways.
Epps Aviation
Benjamin Epps, the founder, was a fighter pilot in WWII and if I got the story straight from Scott Ducker, a Pilatus broker with Epps, Benjamin’s father was a fighter pilot in WWI.
At any rate, the place is loaded with history.
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The Downwind Restaurant
PIREP
The cost is beyond my capabilities to calculate!
- Aircraft Rental: Not applicable here
- Restaurant bill: Lunch for three was about $40 w/$10 tip
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- Total: Priceless
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- Total flight time 4.1
Scott suggested we go to the airport restaurant for lunch which was fine by me, as I always love an opportunity to do another review.
The food was great. I had a Buffalo chicken wrap which I enjoyed. Scott got the Cuban which also looked delicious. The server was very nice and kept our glasses filled with our beverages. One unusual note, I ordered Coke Zero and Steve, a Young Person, said “Coke Zero? Wow haven’t heard that in a long time.” Obviously we have different concepts of time.
Nice place, having some reconstruction going on which inhibited the view, but still lots of aviation and airplane stuff all over the place. Loved it.
Flying Home
The weather was not much better when we left. We were in the soup right after takeoff but again, nothing really bumpy. Some light chop when they leveled us off at 5000 until we got past Hartsfield, but once we were above 14000 it was all clear. We got to FL350 but not for long, as JAX CTR started stepping us down right away. Not really sue why they do that. Have to ask one of my controller friends about that.
As a result we were slower on the way back even with a tailwind. 2.0 chock to chock on the way up, 2.1 on the way back.
Still – an awesome day, and on top of that, I’m actually getting paid to do it #LivingTheDream
Back to $300 Burgers