Narrative:

Aiken; sc is one of the outlying airfields used by corporate/charter/GA for sporting events. [This] week there was a high volume of traffic using aik. I witnessed an aircraft land in the opposite direction of prevailing traffic without making a single position or intent to land call. Also; the 'ground' frequency advertised on ATIS was actually a ramp control frequency. It turned out to be someone in a golf cart with a hand held radio coordinating parking spots. It was nearly impossible to hear him when he was in close proximity to operating aircraft on the ramp. In addition there was an aircraft making practice approaches during this busy time. He was practicing holding at a fix directly along the route that departure vectored us to pick up the sammi 2 departure. In the future ATC should issue a NOTAM identifying aik as a high volume traffic airport during sporting events to discourage practice approaches. The idea of a ramp control frequency/parking coordinator was a good one. Better execution would put this person away from the high decibel output of jet engines.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Falcon Captain offers ATC and ground operations suggestions for the AIK airport during high traffic periods.

Narrative: Aiken; SC is one of the outlying airfields used by corporate/charter/GA for sporting events. [This] week there was a high volume of traffic using AIK. I witnessed an aircraft land in the opposite direction of prevailing traffic without making a single position or intent to land call. Also; the 'Ground' frequency advertised on ATIS was actually a Ramp Control frequency. It turned out to be someone in a golf cart with a hand held radio coordinating parking spots. It was nearly impossible to hear him when he was in close proximity to operating aircraft on the ramp. In addition there was an aircraft making practice approaches during this busy time. He was practicing holding at a fix directly along the route that departure vectored us to pick up the SAMMI 2 departure. In the future ATC should issue a NOTAM identifying AIK as a high volume traffic airport during sporting events to discourage practice approaches. The idea of a Ramp Control frequency/Parking Coordinator was a good one. Better execution would put this person away from the high decibel output of jet engines.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.