Chasing Delta - A Trip to Atlanta
By Matt Falcus
With a new book about Delta Air Lines in the pipeline (due for release at the end of the year), a hasty trip to their hometown of Atlanta was organized thanks to an understanding wife and a bit of creative searching for Avios awards. A last minute full price fare was too expensive, but thankfully I managed to find award seats available a month ahead that brought the price right down.
So, on 31 May I headed up to Newcastle for the mid-morning British Airways flight down to London Heathrow. Newcastle itself is fairly quiet at this time of day, and nothing of particular interest was noted on the ground apart from a FedEx 737-800 with a poorly engine.
My flight was on A320 G-EUUB and, with some holding, landed after 1h 20 minutes.
At Heathrow I had around four hours, so enjoyed a Wetherspoons lunch and settled down by the gates at the northern end of the terminal where arrivals on 09L could be seen, and even photographed.
Heathrow to Altanta
My flight to Atlanta was on Boeing 777-200ER G-YMML which wears the GREAT Festival of Creativity scheme.
The screens had already indicated a 45 minute delay. After boarding this turned into almost 2 hours delay out of a very busy Heathrow. This was a four-class aircraft with upgraded interior, and I had a window seat in a row to myself in the smaller mid-ship economy cabin.
The flight took just under 9 hours, landing at sunset in Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International. We parked at the international terminal and, amazingly, it took less than 30 minutes from leaving the plane to hailing a taxi. That included collecting my case and passing through TSA security.
Renaissance Concourse
For aviation enthusiasts visiting Atlanta, there’s no other place to stay than the Renaissance Concourse Hotel. It’s an 11-storey place situated on the northern boundary, roughly where the original terminal was located.
I’d booked a Runway View room. Not cheap at £150 per night, but again, it had to be done. This guaranteed me a high floor room with airport views and balcony. Despite the late hour on arrival, I had to sit out there for a little while just to take it in, before collapsing into bed.
Sadly the door to my balcony didn’t seal closed properly, so the noise of the aircraft movements were pretty loud in the room. Combined with the time difference, it meant I was out on the balcony just after 6am. I ordered room service breakfast to enjoy while getting my head around just how busy the airport is.
With 5 runways in constant use and a large six-concourse terminal in the middle, plus executive and three cargo aprons, you’ll see why this airport has been the busiest in the world for much of the past 20 years.
Without Flightradar24 and other tracking sites it would be impossible to log everything as the farthest runways and gates are out of range of binoculars. But with tracking apps you can get everything.
I’d hired a 600mm lens to make sure I could get decent shots from the hotel. Some examples are here of what was possible.
I’d also printed off a current Delta fleet listing, sorted by registration, so that I could easily tick off their aircraft that I had seen. This saved a lot of time in writing anything down or risking lots of repetition, as often there are three or four movements to log every minute or two.
Naturally Delta are the main operator here. I logged over 460 of their 900-ish strong fleet over four days. Southwest, Frontier and Spirit also have a strong presence, and other US and international carriers are fairly common.
Added to this, on clear days you’ve got overflights trailing over regularly.
Delta Flight Museum
Just next to the hotel is the Delta Air Lines HQ and their museum. Often in America pavements are few and far between and I had a really nasty encounter with a car park security guard when asking for directions to the museum. I guess the USA is on edge at the minute.
After risking life and limb walking along the edge of the road I eventually found the museum entrance (which had airport security style scanners). I enjoyed a few hours researching their history and exploring the many aircraft on display. These included:
N102DA Boeing 767-200 “Spirit of Delta”
N661US Boeing 747-400, formerly the - 400 prototype
N608DA Boeing 757-200
N675MC Douglas DC-9-51
N4887C Douglas DC-7B
NC28341 Douglas DC-3
N1011 Lockheed L1011 TriStar forward fuselage – prototype
N871TW Convair 880 cockpit - prototype
Huff Daland Duster (replica)
NC8878 Travel Air Sedan
NC4576 Waco 125
NC16181 Stinson Reliant
DeKalb Peachtree Airport
The next day I caught the MARTA Metro to DeKalb-Peachtree airport in the north of the city. It was a mistake to walk 35 minutes from the hotel to the nearest station as the neighbourhood around the hotel is not the most savoury, and I was carrying expensive camera equipment. But at $2.50 for a ride it was certainly cheap and convenient!
DeKalb-Peachtree is an executive and general aviation field, and is the second-busiest airport in Georgia. It is very spotter friendly, with a viewing area right next to the control tower that includes an elevated grandstand, shelter, benches, toilets and play park for the kids.
I also had lunch in the Downwind Restaurant which has a balcony overlooking the airport. But it was too hot out, so I sat indoors!
This airport has plenty of biz jet and prop movements, and loads of light aircraft activity with various flying schools on site. Since I walked from the Metro station I also walked past various parking aprons and hangars which you don’t see from the viewing area.
I logged 125 aircraft in less than 3 hours at the airport, then caught an Uber back to the hotel for $35 which felt a lot safer!
Flying Home
The trip home started on 3rd June. As part of my research I wanted to fly on Delta, and since I could get my award flight back from most US airports I chose to find one where I’d be able to fly on the Boeing 717, which Delta still has plenty of.
I caught the hotel shuttle to the airport (it only runs to the domestic terminal), checked in, and had a few hours wandering the various concourses and taking discrete photos.
My flight was to Washington Dulles and operated by N965AT, built for AirTran in 2001.
I’d done my research and paid for seat 26E in advance, which gives you the best view of the engine and wing. It was a great experience to fly this rare jet, reminiscent of British Midland DC-9s! Some pictures below.
The flight to Dulles took 1h 30 and once there I had to collect bags and re-check in for my next flight, which was to Dublin on Aer Lingus. This was a chance to fly single-aisle across the Atlantic for the first time, and also a first try on the A321neo.
I had to wait until 3 hours before departure to check in, but thankfully you have some views of movements from the check-in area, and it’s great to be in this iconic terminal which still uses the 1960s space-age font on all signage.
After check-in I wandered the concourse and had a beer, before the flight eventually departed just before 9pm for the 6h 40 flight. I was a little worried about being bumped as the check-in agent couldn’t assign me a seat and told me to check at the gate. Thankfully I got seat 6A, which is just behind business class had has extra leg room.
With two seatmates and only 2 hours of darkness I wasn’t able to sleep, so arrived pretty tired in Dublin. My next flight, to Newcastle, was delayed an hour. It was on ATR 72-600 EI-FAT, and had us back in just under an hour.
This was a great, if exhausting, trip. I got plenty of research done and hundreds of photographs. I haven’t gone through the logs yet, but can be certain hundreds have gone in the book. I’d recommend the Renaissance Hotel for some serious spotting if you haven’t been – it is worth the money, and no more than 2-3 days is needed as the Delta fleet does repeat quite a lot.