Captain Tedward's Flying Adventures

This month's spotlight focuses on Cobb County - McCollum Field in Kennesaw, Georgia.


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According to Wikipedia, McCollum Field opened in 1960 with a single 4,000-foot runway. There was a stub taxiway connecting the runway with the ramp area, 60,000 square feet of aprons, and a single administration building. The airport steadily grew over the next 30 years with the greatest developments occurring in the early 1990s.

In 1991, the airport layout plan was first revised. The first full service fixed base operator opened in 1992. A second full service fixed base operator opened a year later. That same year, the Georgia State Patrol Hangar was constructed. The Air Traffic Control Tower was opened in 1995, followed by an Instrument Landing System the next year. Over the course of the decade, there were four major purchases of new land at a total cost of 3.8 million in grants and an unspecified amount in local funds. In addition, 6 new hangars were built.

McCollum Field was first designed as a small field for general aviation. It is designated as a reliever airport for Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. Cobb County is also the primary general aviation airport for the Atlanta suburban population. With an average of 475 takeoffs and landings each day, it is the third most trafficked airport in Georgia.

Cobb County Airport - McCollum Field is a public airport located 21 miles northwest of the central business district of Atlanta, immediately south of the city of Kennesaw in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is also designated as a weather station, although it does not operate between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. (EST/EDT).

The airport is located on nearly 320 acres of land, has one runway which is 6,305 feet long, and is east-west oriented, with headings of 089 and 269. Cobb Place is at the east end, with Cobb Parkway (U.S. 41) and old 41 intersecting McCollum Parkway on the west end. The airfield sits at 1,040 feet above mean sea level somewhat above average terrain for the area.

There are over 350 aircraft based at McCollum, most of them being single-engine. The airport has a control tower.

The airport has 358 aircraft based on it: 251 single engine, 55 multi-engine, 39 jet aircraft and 13 helicopters. 49 percent of operations are single engine and 49 percent are multi-engine. Only 1 percent of operations are air taxi. No major commercial airlines service Cobb County Airport, but there are two charter companies and two major fixed-base operators. Aerial tours are very popular at the airport, as the Appalachian Mountains are less than a 30-minute flight away.

McCollum Field is owned by Cobb County, operated by the County Department of Transportation characterizing it as a municipal airport. It is managed by a full-time, professional airport manager. The airport employs almost 185 people, and had an annual economic impact of more than US$47 million to the local economy in 2002.

Here are some pictures from my recent visit to this airport.

Captain Tedward