Atlanta Hartsfield in a Bonanza

After Chicago O'Hare, San Francisco International and Dallas Fort Worth, today I am flying the Bonanza to the world's busiest airport: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
Coming from Flagler, Florida, I arrive in Atlanta on a rainy day with low clouds and fly the ILS approach to runway 26R, on the northern side of the airport. As I am vectored to the downwind, I get a stunning view of this busy airport.
I park at Signature, the only FBO here. It's a small building, but people are nice and helpful. Fuel is expensive, but the other fees are pleasantly low by large airport standards.
If you have watched any of my previous videos, you will probably notice a big improvement of the radio quality. The source of the annoying noise with COM radio reception on my Bonanza has been identified and eliminated. As a result, ATC sounds much clearer and is easier to understand.
I have now been to the three busiest airports in the world (by aircraft movements). From here, the question is: what's next?

[@jellybertdelattiba7603]

Despite the fact that flying an aircraft requires to be sharp and on the line at all time, you manage to create a peacefull environment ... Very pleasant ! Thanks for the ride !

[@martinpauly]

Thanks for the feedback. - Martin

[@etarheel1]

Very educational sir and I give you a A+ for content! Love the taxiway Dixie! 😂❤ thank you for the experience!

[@njbpaul]

one of the best ILS approach videos on youtube . excellent work thanks for posting

[@victorkashani8998]

Very viewer oriented video. Thank you for that. Welcome to my home town.

[@martinpauly]

Thank you, Victor. Regards, Martin

[@capncrunch9313]

Marty You are definitely the man to watch. No crappy music Straight to the point flying. An aviators dream channel No bullshit Keep em comin’ cap’n.

[@blakergil]

Martin I am currently working on my instrument ticket flying a similarly equipped F33A Bonanza. The thing I get most our of your videos are real life IFR flights with the resource flows. The more I watch the more comfortable I become with the possibility of being able to master this wonderful phase of flight. Keep up the great work.

[@martinpauly]

Thanks, Blake, and good luck for getting your instrument rating.

[@juteint4068]

Impressed....watch it 3 times!

[@bassface84]

Fantastic. Made it look easy.

[@martinpauly]

Glad you enjoyed it - and it really wasn't too hard of a flight. - Martin

[@flyingcaba5874]

Martin, sensationell! Ich lerne und staune...und freue mich schon wieder auf´s Fliegen in den USA.

[@martinpauly]

Vielen Dank, Carsten - das freut mich! Melde Dich mal, falls Du beim Fliegen in den USA in den Mittleren Westen kommst.

[@flyingcaba5874]

Gerne...vielleicht verbinde ich das irgendwann mit OSH.

[@bobninemire6859]

WoW Martin.....Just when I thought you'd hit the top you go and put a video like this out. You got it right all the way. Camera angles are great. Overlays are just right and when they need to be. THANKS for taking the time ( And I'm sure you spent LOTS of that) to put a quality video out so we can just sit back and see how you make IRF into a class B easy. Thanks again !!!

[@martinpauly]

You are very welcome, Bob. Thanks for the feedback and the kind words. Quite a few Class B airports left on my bucket list, so there'll be more videos. :-)

[@garrus1]

Great video... and flying Martin.

[@martinpauly]

Thanks :-) - Martin

[@jdmartin2778]

What an amazing flight! You nailed it captain! I couldn't help but laugh seeing you in the middle of all those twins and heavy's. Those controllers do an amazing job as well...ie "maintain one five zero as long as you can!" Hilarious!

[@martinpauly]

Yes, pretty typical to hear approach and/or tower ask for maximum forward speed. I'll comply as much as I can, so as to not disrupt their flow more than necessary.

[@dzombek1]

Super job - I love watching your videos during the times I am not in the air.

[@louisadamo2510]

I thoroughly enjoy your videos and learn something from each one.

[@martinpauly]

Thank you, Louis - glad to hear that! - Martin

[@sebastiangrimm5671]

Awesome Video! Thanks a lot!

[@martinpauly]

Thank you! :-) - Martin

[@firecosman]

Martin, you have the best IFR system videos on YT. Your camera angles, position integration, and detailed in-flight narration makes me look forward to each new video produced. As a student midway through my instrument training, I really enjoy your comfort level around large airports. Keep up the great work!!!

[@LanndynCarnateBowling]

Thank you great and learning videos for IFR

[@martinpauly]

Glad you found it helpful! - Martin

[@tedk2814]

very cool flight, especially enjoyed the view of Hartsfield airport.thanks....

[@martinpauly]

Yes, that view was quite something!

[@tolgaece4590]

Hallo Martin. Einmal mehr, ein super Flug sehr informativ präsentiert. Habe im Final fast schon mit gefiebert, dass die Runway vor dem Minimum noch erscheint. Freue ich schon auf Dein nächstes Video. Beste Grüsse. Tolga

[@martinpauly]

Hallo Tolga, vielen Dank und viele Grüsse aus Amerika.

[@davidmullet1030]

Great video thanks

[@martinpauly]

Thank you, David! - Martin

[@MrMazz35]

Another great and instructive video. One more time... Thanks for the lesson!

[@martinpauly]

Glad to hear!

[@Marty2Man]

Beautiful flight and even better landing. Thanks.

[@mojah1]

Incredible quality performance, I enjoyed watching so much, at a certain point just before breaking out of clouds I felt my muscles tensioning, thanks for a great vid,season greetings.

[@martinpauly]

That you for the kind words, mojah1. I'm glad you liked the video.

[@420Donnelly]

Really enjoy the map &chart overlays.

[@donh.3245]

Another excellent video. Thanks Martin!👍🏽

[@Myviewer108]

you are cool dude, best wishes.

[@martinpauly]

Thanks! :-) - Martin

[@loveplanes]

Another great class. Thank you!

[@martinpauly]

Thanks, Carlos. Between the weather and traffic volume, this was one of the more interesting flights I remember - nothing TOO bad, but very rewarding overall. - Martin

[@dominiccarpenter5890]

Awesome video, Martin! You captured some beautiful views between the layers. Well done! Nice approach as well!

[@srvafool]

As usual Martin, a great video. You amaze me with your fearlessness. Single engine into the busiest airport in the world. Sehr gute!!

[@donjones1203]

Martin; Great video, loved the overlays of charts, weather radar, etc.; very good!

[@martinpauly]

Thanks, Don - glad you enjoyed it. Regards, Martin

[@KevinBowers88]

You beat me to it Martin! I've done all my PPL/IR training northeast of ATL but have never bothered to fly there. Looks like I'll have to give it a shot now.

[@johnjayforsberg]

Great job at showing an instrument approach with all the detail shown. I'm currently working on the ground school portion of my instrument training. Videos like this are great supplements to the training. Keep up the good work.

[@martinpauly]

Thanks, John, and good luck for your instrument rating.

[@johnhill7133]

Nice job as usual. Keep them videos coming.

[@markstraits4998]

Good job Martin ...you’re a pro!

[@stevenpaulsnyder]

Another amazing video...

[@midlifeflyer]

Very enjoyable flight.

[@DeltaHotelAviation]

Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed! Excellent video and very detailed editing. Not to mention the flying skills :) cool!

[@martinpauly]

Thank you!

[@villascjhl]

Nice vid. Love the visuals. Very informative. I also like the landing in jfk vid

[@chrisaviator2337]

Very cool video! Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪!

[@martinpauly]

Danke, Chris!

[@TonyP9279]

It must get expensive landing at these major airports. Taxiway D is called "Dixie" there, since being the home of Delta, that could get confusing. Taking a left on Dixie would take you by the tower and to the international ramps. The Victor loop is a taxiway that goes around past the end of 26L so you don't have to wait and cross 26L to get to the midfield ramps. AJAAY is basically right over I-675. In Atlanta, if the weather is bad, just wait about 30 minutes then it'll be nice and sunny.

[@martinpauly]

Thanks, tjperez69 - that's good information.

[@geoffeg]

Nicely done. Next time you're there, there'a full-motion 737 simulator at the Delta Museum of Flight, not far from the FBO. About $400 gets you an hour or so in a retired (but still fully functional) Delta simulator.

[@broadwayblues]

Really enjoying your videos! Keep up the great work. Wish I had the money to fly.

[@martinpauly]

Thank you, John. I'll keep making them... And don't give up if this is your dream - flying doesn't need to cost the world.

[@timrobinson3562]

Outstanding!

[@xylemnetworks]

Hi Martin. Thanks for you videos. I love watching them and do a great job all around. Thank you. Quick question. I'm ready to buy some new headsets and was wondering what you use. I usually like the in-ear buds and they do a good job cancelling noise and they are usually comfortable but wanted to see what your experience was and which product you use. I have a set of Bose (GA Plugs) and a Zulu 3 (ANR) and wanted a third for the extra passenger I take along once in a while. Thank again and appreciate your input!

[@martinpauly]

Hi Alex, I use the Halo from Quiet Technologies. In-ear headsets aren't for everyone, but those who like it never want to go back, from what I've seen. One thing about them, you have to replace the foam tips every now and then - when they wear out, they don't attenuate noise so well anymore. Regards, Martin

[@rfriesen1644]

Videos are very well done!

[@BaronPilot]

Great video. So jealous. I find myself avoiding the class b airports like that. But would love to do it once as a bucket list. Ok I have to ask. How do you record your iPad? iOS 11 allows you to record your screen but I have not had luck with that recording more then a few minutes before simply recording black.

[@brianmcgee115]

Outstanding! You need to add Dallas Love to your list, bbq is on me 😁

[@martinpauly]

Thanks, Brian. I hope to be back in Dallas sometime in the future. Have only been there once so far.

[@mcotherman5957]

You flew almost over my house on your arrival to DFW. You do a great job with your videos! Really enjoy them!

[@cleburne-dfwseptic6843]

Martin you make some great videos

[@michaelkacmarynski1706]

If you ever want a right seater on a flight I'm in Dubuque training at UD and I'm always up for a good flight!!!

[@UAL1kFlyer]

Excellent. I like the HUD inset at 22:53.

[@martinpauly]

Thank you. I'll see if I can do more of that in some future videos.

[@Cousin.]

Martin Pauly: Flying into every major airport. So we don't have to. ; ) Another great video Martin! As always: great photography & V.O., superb editing, lots of fantastic info, and of course, excellent flying! Cheers! -Cuz

[@theoph3777]

Awesome!

[@weekendwarrior-es]

Very good video, as usual. Another question Martin, how do you do those "circles" to highlight something? (like the regional jet). I'm not using the same video editor program as you but it could be a very good clue.

[@martinpauly]

Thanks - glad you liked the video. The highlight circles are just a video with transparent background which I put on a separate track in the video editor, on top of the full-screen content. I can scale and position the highlight video as needed. So it's not really any special highlighting feature of my editor, just a useful little video building block I created a few years ago and have used many times since then. Regards, Martin

[@weekendwarrior-es]

Well, that trick looks very good. You are very professional on your videos (in yout flights too but I think you already know it ;) )

[@Nordyman47]

Great vid as always. Can you comment on the earbuds and how they compare with Bose for example?

[@martinpauly]

Gregory, I like this headset (Halo from Quiet Technologies) very much. Very light, and no pressure on my ears/heads. The noise attenuation is maybe a little bit less than high-end ANR headsets, but perfectly fine for my ears. Music and voice sound very good through the Halo.

[@abrahamnemani3907]

Another great video, any chance we can see more of the panel and the instruments for the approach? Thank you.

[@davidfulton4576]

Not a pilot. Just a professionalism simmer. I learn so much from the profession.

[@unclefreddy2009]

What a great job on the flying and editing as well. Makes me want to get IFR current again in the spring. Question: You seemed to be comfortable flying into the red radar areas, normally I avoid those even if they are small as the radar of course is delayed. I assume you had had pireps or some other thing that caused you to be comfortable flying through it which was probably edited out. I know its probably a long answer, but what are your personal rules around flying through heavier precip vs going around it if possible. Thanks! Also I stopped using WingX a while ago when we installed our Garmin ADSB (now using foreflight). Makes me want to go back to it!

[@martinpauly]

Good question, Jeff. My experience has been that the color displayed on the radar is, by itself, not a good indication for how pleasant (or unpleasant) the ride will be. There can be moderate or even heavy rain in perfectly smooth air, just like you can be shaken around in clear air or in clouds that don't even show up on the radar. That doesn't mean the radar image is useless - not at all; it certainly points out areas of potential convective activity that pilots should look at closely and think about before proceeding. So how do you know which is which? It's not an exact science with perfect predictions, but I try to look for signs of convective activity: reports of lightning/thunderstorms in nearby weather reports (METAR/AWOS) which are now easy to see with FIS-B, convective SIGMETs, or simply knowing (from the weather briefing prior to the flight) whether a front is pushing through the area. In the absence of those indicators, I have usually found pretty good flying conditions, and sometimes a free plane wash from the rain. As was the case on this flight to Atlanta.

[@janwbol]

Ah, i just saw you put in the flaps at the last moment, right?

[@martinpauly]

Yes, that's right, Jan Willem. When going to these busy airports with jet traffic behind, ATC usually wants me to be fast on final, so I slow down late and drop the flaps just prior to touchdown.

[@OlavSurlandHansen]

You seem to have a greater tolerance to orange and even small patches of red on the weather display than the famous Steveo does. And he is a professional, with a bigger and more powerful airplane. How come?

[@martinpauly]

The intensity of precipitation (as shown by the color on the radar) is only one of several factors. The rain by itself isn't bad, it's the turbulence often associated with rain that you want to stay away from. There are other indicators, like the existence of thunderstorms/lightning, or (heavy) rain reaching the surface. From all that data one can get a pretty good idea of how smooth or how bumpy the ride is going to be. In this case, despite the color of the radar, my ride was actually pretty smooth that day. Regards, Martin

[@stonebear]

The thing about the Bonanza is that it's just barely fast enough to squeeze into a standard ILS conga line... and with the 150kt gear speed, when time comes to slow down, you can do so in a hurry... Also, there's no substitute for *onboard* weather detection... what you can get on an iPad is good for planning, but tactically, you need radar or (IME, better yet) a Stormscope... or both is good.. the delay on the satellite-delivered weather is just long enough to be a real problem in a pinch. Thankfully, it wasn't a big deal on this day...

[@martinpauly]

I would love to have onboard radar, but there are no good choices for a Bonanza. That alone would be a good reason to own a twin! Short of that, it's a matter of understanding the shortcomings of uplinked weather (as you explained) and understanding what the atmosphere is capable of producing on a given day (CAPE etc.). Regards, Martin

[@ultrametric9317]

This is fun, but I really question allowing GA aircraft into such a busy air space, much less getting into the pattern. There are at least 5 significant airports within 20 miles. FTY and PDK are full-service, commercial class airports less than 15 miles away. The problem IMO is that sure, everything should work well if as here everyone follows the exact procedures, but things go awry and air-to-air visibility on such a day (see and avoid) cannot be relied on. Then once you are down, you are a dust mote among a flock of large birds carrying delicate freight. Anyway, stay safe up there.

[@MikeVictorAviation]

Cool. Wie zeichnest du denn dein iPad Display auf?

[@martinpauly]

Dazu habe ich zwei Dinge: (1) einen Lightning-to-HDMI Adapter von Apple, und (2) einen digitalen Videorecorder (BlackMagic Design Video Assist). Letzterer zeichnet via HDMI alles, was ich auf dem iPad sehe, wie ein Video auf, das ich anschliessend in Final Cut Pro verwenden kann. Das alles funktioniert prima.

[@janwbol]

That seemed like a no flap landing, correct?

[@marcgerlach6858]

und ich dachte, in den USA gibt's kein schlechtes Wetter... Wieder sehr schön gemacht, gratuliere zu allen Deinen Videos. Woher stammt eigentlich die Wetter-Information, die auf dem Tablet eingezeichnet wird?

[@martinpauly]

Vielen Dank, Marc. Das Wetter kommt hier in den USA entweder via Satellit (XMWeather, gegen Gebuehr) oder - wie in meinem Fall - als FIS-B kostenlos von den ADS-B Ground Stations. Da gibt's Radar, METARs, TAFs, Wind/Temperatur und andere Informationen. Das gibt es soweit ich weiss ausserhalb der USA leider nicht. Und schlechtes Wetter gibt's hier in Amerika auch :-)

[@marcgerlach6858]

Das sollten sie bei uns auch anbieten - ich finde es sehr hilfreich. Komme gerade aus Tannheim von ein paar Platzrunden mit der FB und vergleichbarem Wetter. Im Flugbuch dieser Maschine stehst Du auch noch drin, wenn man auch einige Seiten zurückblättern muss ;-)

[@mikewolfe386]

And my southwest flight was delayed 30 seconds because of you

[@martinpauly]

Quite possible. Please forgive me. :-)

[@KenKen-ui4ny]

It's not uncommon to occasionally see small aircraft land at ATL, especially during curtain times of the day and late at night when the airline traffic there is not as busy

[@martinpauly]

Right. And with the FBO so close to the northernmost runway, the taxi part - which can be daunting at other large airports - is usually pretty simple at Atlanta.

[@kreativeflicks]

Very informative!!! Great Vid!!!!! S U B S C R I B E D ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[@martinpauly]

Thank you, B Kreative - glad to hear you liked it.

[@C4GIF]

I pity you so much for that big amount you had to pay in Atlanta!

[@martinpauly]

Don't feel too bad for me. I knew what to expect before I landed there. It was for the experience, not for convenience or affordability. For sure it was fun to visit such a large airport! - Martin