Fulton County Brown Field
Continent: North America | Country: United States | Region: Georgia |
Fulton County Airport - Brown Field | |
Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
IATA code | FTY |
ICAO code | KFTY |
Airport type | Public |
Website | http://www.flightcentral.net/kfty/ |
Overview map | Google Maps |
Communications | |
Tower | 118.45 |
Ground | 121.7 |
Clearance | 121.7 |
Approach | 121.0 |
Departure | 121.0 |
ATIS | 120.175 |
Departure | 122.95 |
Fulton County Brown Field is a regional General Aviation airport located in the Fulton Industrial region of Atlanta. The airport acts a reliever for the busier GA airports in the region such as Dekalb-Peachtree Airport and Cobb County McCollum Field. Fulton County is a relatively sleepy airport, typically only seeing a handful or aircraft operations per hour. Spotting locations are available to catch the occasional interesting movement at FTY.
Official Spotting Locations
Hilltop Viewing Area
Located directly adjacent to the 1950's style terminal and former air traffic control tower is a small viewing area. A couple of benches, a picnic table, and a small playground overlook the airport's main ramp. The entire terminal area is typically deserted, so park wherever you please in the large parking lot at the end of Aviation Circle. Don't be scared off by the dozens of police vehicles, Fulton County parks their out of service police cruisers and public service vehicles in the vast empty parking lot at the airport. For photography, the light is best in the early morning. 100-300mm of focal length should be plenty, a 400mm lens may open up more options for taking shots of parked aircraft on the ramp.
Other Spotting Locations
Aero Drive Hangars
Just before the end of Aero Drive a hangar parking lot provides the only decent viewing area to catch aircraft movements on the field. The lot only overlooks Runway 26, but this runway is the primary calm-wind runway for the airport. The parking lot is directly adjacent to the ramp and has only a chest-high fence (no ladders required.) The barbed wire topping the fence has been tied back by frequent visitors, so it shouldn't get in the way. Light is best in the early morning. 100-300mm of focal length is sufficient for most traffic taxiing and on Runway 26, 400mm is necessary for smaller aircraft operating on 26.
Regular Traffic
FTY has no scheduled traffic. The majority of traffic at FTY is local or transient light GA aircraft. Various business jets and on-demand cargo carriers visit FTY on an infrequent basis. Hawker-Beechcraft maintains a sales and repair center at FTY, so King Airs and BeechJets are common.
Facilities and Transportation
No public transit is available at FTY. FBO restroom and refreshment facilities are available if needed. As with most spotting in the Atlanta area, access is best by automobile.