The director of DeKalb-Peachtree Airport has a simple message to residents that might be worried after the recent crash that left two people dead: "The airport is safe."
Officials this week responded to safety concerns from residents who live near the airport — which is the second busiest in the state and ranks in the top 20 for fatalities out of all 630 major airports in the country, according to Federal Aviation Administration statistics.
The airport — more commonly known as “PDK” by its official FAA designation — is surrounded by residential neighborhoods in Brookhaven and Chamblee. It had about 160,000 takeoffs and landings from small plans and corporate jets last year.
The crash last month that destroyed a DeKalb County townhouse and killed the pilot and the passenger has only escalated the tension between the airport and some residents in the nearby communities, who have complained for years about noise and pollution from PDK. Now, the issue of physical safety in and around the airport has come to the forefront, and was a topic of discussion at an Airport Advisory Board meeting Monday.
Some residents brought up the number of fatalities linked to airport: 16 over the last 20 years, Airport Director Mario Evans said.
“Every time there’s an incident, I think this a wakeup call for people that there is more and more traffic in and out of PDK,” said Lori Muskat, who lives less than 2 miles from the airport in Chamblee. “It’s complicated on all sides. I don’t know what the answer is.”
When Muskat bought her condo off Clairmont Road 11 years ago, she knew there was a “risk which had to do with the airport, which seemed like it was very low.” Her worries increased, she said, when Atlanta Gas Light built a natural gas regulator near her neighborhood.
On Oct. 30, a single-engine Piper-28 slammed into the top floor of a townhouse near I-85 and Clairmont Road after taking off from PDK, killing both people in the plane. A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report found that the airplane broke up in flight before the crash, but the report did not identify the cause.
Credit: Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
Evans emphasized that the rate of fatal crashes is extremely low, given the high number of operations at the airport. He also said several of the deaths have occurred before landings or after takeoffs, and stemmed from mechanical or pilot errors. But the crashes are nevertheless linked to PDK.
“The community is using this tragedy — in my opinion — trying to use it to their advantage,” Evans said Tuesday, referencing residents who have criticized the airport’s operations and it relationship with the local neighborhoods.
At Monday’s meeting, Evans also presented statistics about minor incidents or “incursions” at PDK. Those incidents can include pilots not following takeoff or landing protocol, planes veering off the runway or an unauthorized pedestrian or vehicle being on the runway.
There have been 440 runway incursions at PDK since 2000, statistics show, but they have generally decreased over the years. Last year, there were seven incursions. Evans said the incursion statistics do not reflect on the safety risk to the nearby neighborhoods.
PDK is a general aviation airport, meaning it mostly does not service commercial passenger flights and is instead used for smaller planes.
The airport is currently undergoing a master plan process to prepare for predicted growth over the next 20 years, with takeoffs and landings expected to rise to almost 220,000 in 2040, officials predict. The number of planes stationed at PDK is also expected to rise.
“The airport’s not going anywhere,” Evans said. “It’s not up and moving.”
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