Departure
90%
vs 95% ▼ 5
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Dobbins Air Reserve Base sits in Cobb County, Georgia, about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta, and is the home of the Air Force Reserve's 94th Airlift Wing and its C-130 Hercules fleet. For a simulator pilot it offers a rare mix of a 10,000-foot ILS-equipped runway, dense military and government traffic, and proximity to the world's busiest airspace around Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
Dobbins Air Reserve Base, identified by the code KMGE, is a United States Air Force installation in Marietta, Georgia, home to the 94th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command and its C-130 Hercules aircraft. It also hosts the headquarters of the Twenty-Second Air Force, Georgia Army National Guard aviation units, and elements of the Marine Corps Reserve and Navy Reserve. Its long, ILS-served runway and heavy mixed military traffic make it an interesting destination for a virtual pilot exploring the Atlanta area.
The base lies in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, roughly 20 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, within the wider terminal airspace serving Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport. Dobbins shares its runway complex with the adjoining General Lucius D. Clay National Guard Center, formerly Naval Air Station Atlanta, immediately to its south. Approach and departure control in the area is provided by Atlanta Approach/Departure.
Dobbins has a single physical runway, 11/29, measuring 9,976 feet in length with a hard surface. It is lit and equipped with an instrument landing system, reflecting the base's role as a high-volume military airfield handling large transport aircraft.
Radio services include Atlanta Approach/Departure on 121 MHz, Tower on 120.75 MHz, Ground on 125.3 MHz, and ATIS on 26.95 MHz. Additional frequencies serve base operations, including PTD on 139.3 MHz, the 94th Airlift Wing Command Post on 37.952 MHz, Army National Guard operations on 47 MHz, Navy operations on 34.02 MHz, and PMSV Metro on 27.475 MHz. The field's runway 11/29 is equipped with an ILS.
The airfield was constructed in 1941 as Rickenbacker Field, named after World War I flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, as part of a nationwide programme of airfield construction overseen by the Civil Aeronautics Administration under General Lucius D. Clay. Cobb County purchased land southeast of Marietta along U.S. Highway 41, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration funded construction of what began as two, then three, runways, built by the W. L. Florence Company starting in July 1941. The field was later renamed Dobbins Air Force Base in honour of Captain Charles M. Dobbins, a World War II C-47 pilot killed near Sicily. Over the following decades it hosted a wide range of Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard aircraft, including the P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre, C-124 Globemaster II, F-100 Super Sabre, F-4 Phantom II and F-15 Eagle. The base's official designation changed to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in 1992, and briefly to Dobbins Joint Air Reserve Base in 2003. In September 2005, Hurricane Hunter aircraft of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron operated from Dobbins after Hurricane Katrina damaged their home base, and the field also received evacuees from the storm. Following the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, Dobbins became the only remaining US military flying facility in northern Georgia after the Georgia Air National Guard relocated to Robins Air Force Base in 1996, leaving Air Force Reserve C-130s as the sole flying unit based there.
Dobbins ARB remains an active US Air Force Reserve installation, home to the 94th Airlift Wing's C-130 Hercules aircraft and headquarters for the Twenty-Second Air Force. It also supports Army Aviation Service Facility #2 of the Georgia Army National Guard, operating UH-60 Blackhawk and UH-72 Lakota helicopters, along with Marine Corps Reserve and Navy Reserve units. The base handles over 14,000 flight operations annually, making it a busy and diverse military traffic environment set within the wider Atlanta airspace.
