Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport

25°51′42″N 080°53′49″W

Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport
A Boeing 727 lands at what was originally the controversial Miami-Dade Jetport in July 1972
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerMiami-Dade County
OperatorMiami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD)
ServesMiami-Dade / Collier Counties
Elevation AMSL13 ft / 4 m
Websitemiami-airport.com/dade_collier
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 10,499 3,200 Asphalt
Statistics (2001)
Aircraft operations14,468

Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport (IATA: TNT, ICAO: KTNT, FAA LID: TNT) is a public airport located within the Florida Everglades, 36 miles (58 km) west of the central business district of Miami, in Collier County, Florida, United States. It is owned by Miami-Dade County and operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.[1] The airport is on the Tamiami Trail near the border between Dade and Collier counties in central South Florida.

History
View of the runway

Begun in 1968 as the Everglades Jetport (also known as Big Cypress Jetport or Big Cypress Swamp Jetport), the airport was planned to be the largest airport in the world, covering 39 square miles with six runways, and connected to both central Miami and the Gulf of Mexico by an expressway and monorail line. The airport would have been five times the size of JFK Airport in New York.[2] At the time, the Boeing 2707 was under development and it was anticipated that supersonic aircraft would dominate long-haul air transportation. South Florida was viewed as an ideal location for an intercontinental SST hub due to the limitation that such aircraft would have to fly over water.[3] Because of environmental concerns and the cancellation of the 2707 program, construction was halted in 1970 after the completion of just one 10,500' runway.[4] The remaining land became the Big Cypress National Reserve.

Although the airport was left abandoned and unfinished, it was still retained by the local government as a general aviation airport and (to a greater extent) training airport. It was originally heavily used by Pan Am and Eastern Airlines as a training airport, as the long runway at Dade-Collier could accommodate aircraft as large as Boeing 747s, and was equipped with a relatively new instrument landing system, which allowed pilots to train for landing with low cloud ceilings and/or poor visibility. The isolation of the airport meant that it could be used for training flights 24/7 all days of the year without interfering with the traffic at Miami International. In more recent years, the advent of flight simulators has made such training flights less economical, and the airport is now used much less frequently, although it remains open to general aviation.[4]

Facilities and aircraft

Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport covers an area of 24,960 acres (10,100 ha), 39 square miles, which contains one asphalt paved runway (9/27) measuring 10,499 × 150 ft (3,200 × 46 m). For 2001, the airport had 14,468 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 39 per day.[1] As of 2015 the airport had an average of 12 landings and take-offs per day.[5]

Other uses

High-speed automobile events have been held here because the runway is two miles long. This allows exotic cars to break the 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) barrier, a pinnacle for street vehicles. Such events were held in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Oil exploration on the site was considered in 2009, but not pursued due to resistance from conservation groups.[5]

The Carlos Gimenez administration proposed holding a regular "Miami International Air Show" at Dade-Collier, similar in concept to the Paris Air Show. Homestead Air Reserve Base had previously been considered, but the idea had been rejected by the US military.[5]

References
  1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for TNT PDF, effective 2007-10-25
  2. "Everglades Jetport - Big Cypress National Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)".
  3. Williams, Tom (7 August 2009). "The Big Cypress Jetport and the most ambitious aviation plan ever". Naples Daily News. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  4. Freeman, Paul. "Everglades Jetport / Dade Collier Training & Transition Airport (TNT), Everglades, FL". Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  5. Hanks, Douglas (31 March 2015). "Old Everglades Jetport site targeted for revival in air show plan". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
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