Kalitta

[JT8D]

Hi!

YIP is the old Detroit Metro airport. It is about 5 miles W of DTW, except it's on the North side of I-94 instead of the South side.

It is a huge airport, with tons of room, even today, for expansion. When Detroit needed more PAX capacity, the various political factions fought about what to do.

Eventually, they decided to start from the ground up, buy all the property, build ramps, runways, taxiways, etc., etc., etc. for a brand new airport, only 5 miles from the old one.

I'm sure a lot of politicians took massive bribes and payoffs to do this.

It cost the taxpayers tens, if not, hundreds of millions of extra money to do this. What a huge waste of our money.

cliff
GRB

Sorry son, I'm afraid your version of how DTW evolved is a bit skewed.

YIP was built in 1941 as a bomber facility and sold to the University of Michigan in 1947 for one dollar.

Here are the facts...


http://www.metroairport.com/about/history.asp#1920


Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport Chronological History
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1920's | 1930's | 1940's | 1950's | 1960's | 1970's | 1980's | 1990's | 2000's | Ongoing

1927 The plan to build a major commercial airport was conceived on April 12, 1927 .

1928 A $2 million bond was issued to finance the acquisition of one square mile of land at the corner of Middlebelt Road and Wick Road, (at the northeast corner of today’s airport). Called Wayne County Airport, it served as a general aviation facility.

1929 A landing strip was installed along with several maintenance buildings. The Wayne County Airport was dedicated and opened to the public in September. The first “official” landing was February 22, 1930. Thompson Aeronautical Corporation, a predecessor company of American Airlines, inaugurated service from Wayne County Airport .

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1931 The Wayne County Airport became the base for the Michigan Air National Guard.

1939 A new administration building was built to accommodate airline operations and to provide more office space.

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1940’s Control of the Airport was assumed by the U.S. Army for use as a staging base for transport of heavy bombers to Europe . The Army constructed new hangars, runways, and other facilities.

1944 The Wayne County Board of Supervisors authorized a threefold expansion of Wayne County Airport . By a vote of 63 to 1, the Supervisors approved the recommendation of the Ways and Means Committee to enlarge the mile square airport to cover 3.5 square miles.
The U.S. Army announced its intentions of releasing Wayne County Airport , thus paving the way for its use as either a primary or secondary airport to serve Detroit and Wayne County .


1947 The Airport was renamed Detroit-Wayne Major Airport .

1948 The Airport was expanded to four square miles, allowing for construction of a south parallel runway.

1949 Runways 3C and 9-27 were built.

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1950 Runway 3L-21R was built.
A new air traffic control tower and an administration building were constructed.
Pan American and British Overseas Airways initiated regular service out of Detroit-Wayne Major Airport .


1952 A new cargo building was built and leased to Flying Tiger Line, Meteor Air Transport and Slick Airways.

1956 It was announced that Detroit-Wayne Major Airport would receive $1 million under the Federal Aid-to-Airports program during fiscal year 1957.
A 30 year contract between American Airlines and the Wayne County Road Commission was signed, calling for the airline to shift operations from Willow Run Airport to Detroit-Wayne Major Airport . American was the first of the seven airlines operating out of Willow Run to agree to the proposed shift of all commercial carriers to the Wayne Major facility.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) announced that Detroit was one of the first cities scheduled to receive long-range radar in the CAA $246 million program to prepare the nation for civil jet transports. The new radar system was the heart of a plan designed to handle a four-fold increase in U.S. air traffic with minimum delay and maximum safety. The new detection device permitted CAA controllers to scan the skies for all aircraft up to 200 miles away.


1957 Construction began on a $10.4 million expansion program including a new terminal building (L.C. Smith Terminal), a 10,500 foot runway, a hotel and restaurant.

1958 The Detroit - Wayne Major Airport was certified as an international jet craft airport by the Civil Aeronautics Administration which qualified the Airport for 50 percent Federal funds for construction of the long runways needed for jet airliners.
The Airport was renamed Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport .
American, Allegheny, Northwest Orient, Pan Am and British Overseas moved to Metro Airport from the Willow Run Airport. American inaugurated air carrier service at Metro on October 1.
Detroit and Wayne County officially joined the jet age with the dedication of the $8.3 million terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport . The dedication gave Detroit the first inland commercial jet airport in the nation.


1959 The FAA proposed new construction at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in order to accommodate a total of 5,266,000 air passengers in the next six years.
Delta moved from Willow Run to Metro Airport .

 

[WMUSIGPI]

YIP worlds largest airport on terms of paved runways when built in 1941, has not changed since 1941, whoops I forgot we have a new taxiway "G"

Based on the condition of the pavement there, it seems to be original 1941 too. At least it's safer to get food around there than City Airport.

 

[hkgorbust]

The new hires are not due to growth......they are replacements for the large number of resignations.

Contract is now about 4 years beyond the amendable date. I believe the negotiations were "stalled" for a long while, now they're back to square one with new union leadership....again. No end in sight. Connie won't give a nickel! The only guys who seem to do okay are the senior old whores who work on days off. All the junior guys are on food stamps....waiting for their next job offer.

Don't you see the irony?
Senior old whores work on days off = make lots of money, vs.
Idealistic junior pukes (who refuse to work on days off) = food stamps
As Spotterpilot said "Everyone there knows what they signed up for before they took the job." And the paycheck is ALWAYS on time.

Don't get me wrong, the contract issue needs to be resolved NOW! The problem doesn't just lie with the company, or with the guys who work on days off, or the hard working negotiating committee. Take a good look at the leadership in Houston. Yes, the guy who has been directing the negotiations. The same one that said that the KA pilot group wasn't smart enough to negotiate a contract for themselves.

By the way, CK closed a deal with JAL yesterday for 3 more (Q and R powered) freighters and 2 (Q powered) pax parts birds.

So much for no growth. Yes, a bunch of guys left to return to the legacy carriers they were furloughed from, and some went to greener pastures like brown and purple. Some just weren't happy. Best of luck to all of them. And to you too.

 

[gear_yanker]

It certainly wasn't the "junior pukes" who brought Teamsters onto the property! None the less, all negotiating problems could have been resolved long ago if the group had solidarity.

I don't think the crewmembers will ever come together. Quite a few of the senior old whores can't work anywhere else (accidents, violations, felony convictions, drinking problems, etc.) and they have no reason to change anything at Kalitta. The system works well for them. The training events and scheduling chaos caused by the high rate of attrition means more money for them.

How many crewmembers have resigned in the past six months? How many Connie flights were flown by other carriers during this same period because there weren't enough crews? Connie will need the class in March plus another two like it to make up for everyone who's quit recently. I guess we can talk more about growth once he gets back to the same number of crews he had on the property last summer. Until then, the new meat will just be replacements. With only one sim in YIP can Connie even train new guys as fast as the rate qualified guys are quitting?

 

[smurflight]

Bitter maybe?

 

[27 driver]

I don't know much about working there other than what I have heard from a couple of friends that recently quit, and it seems to be a crappy place to be. Not to mention that you have to pay for your own hotel in YIP during training. On the flip side, when you take an ACMI job you know full well what you are getting into. They are time builders for some and career stops for those that are not hirable elseware. Good luck whatever you decide.