Narrative:

Late evening. Taxiing from our parking spot on the ramp. Ramp was congested due to construction on the south end where hotel enters and exits the parking ramp. We were parked approximately 150 ft north of the construction area along the grass line of the eastern side of the ramp. Our nose was pointing east northeast while parked. We arrived at pdk [that morning]. Remained there until [late at night] when the owner showed up for the return trip home. The aircraft was started and checklist completed. Copilot called for taxi to the north and received clearance to taxi to juliet and alpha for runway 21L. We proceeded in that direction. Ramp has no lighting and no visible taxi line to help center on the ramp or lead you to the juliet taxiway entry point. The only lines visible were freshly painted double yellow lines which projected outward towards the center of center of parking area that juliet intersects with. The taxiway entrance has no side marker lights except on the other side where juliet and alpha intersect. As you look across at night the lack of any lighting creates an illusion that the taxiway is wider than it actually is. The grass on either side is flat and blends into the asphalt giving the appearance of a solid section. In addition; the taxiway lights on taxiway alpha opposite of the entrance to juliet from a distance appear to mark the corners of the entrance to juliet. As result of these environmental factors the aircrafts right main gear sank in the mud of the overly saturated ground at the apex of juliet's entrance and the narrower portion of the ramp. Better lighting of the area; installing edge lights and correcting the painted lines will prevent future occurrences such as this.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Corporate Captain reported taxiing into the grass at PDK due to lack of taxiway lighting.

Narrative: Late evening. Taxiing from our parking spot on the ramp. Ramp was congested due to construction on the South end where Hotel enters and exits the parking ramp. We were parked approximately 150 ft north of the construction area along the grass line of the eastern side of the ramp. Our nose was pointing east northeast while parked. We arrived at PDK [that morning]. Remained there until [late at night] when the owner showed up for the return trip home. The aircraft was started and checklist completed. Copilot called for taxi to the north and received clearance to taxi to Juliet and Alpha for runway 21L. We proceeded in that direction. Ramp has no lighting and no visible taxi line to help center on the ramp or lead you to the Juliet taxiway entry point. The only lines visible were freshly painted double yellow lines which projected outward towards the center of center of parking area that Juliet intersects with. The taxiway entrance has no side marker lights except on the other side where Juliet and Alpha intersect. As you look across at night the lack of any lighting creates an illusion that the taxiway is wider than it actually is. The grass on either side is flat and blends into the asphalt giving the appearance of a solid section. In addition; the taxiway lights on taxiway Alpha opposite of the entrance to Juliet from a distance appear to mark the corners of the entrance to Juliet. As result of these environmental factors the aircrafts right main gear sank in the mud of the overly saturated ground at the apex of Juliet's entrance and the narrower portion of the ramp. Better lighting of the area; installing edge lights and correcting the painted lines will prevent future occurrences such as this.

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.