It looked like… a runway in the middle of nowhere. Okay, in all honesty, it was kind of anti-climactic. Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport from above Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport from above I managed to snap some pictures of the runway. Sure enough, we passed just south of the airport! Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport My eyes were glued out the window for most of the flight, and I was tracking our flight using Flightradar24. I flew from Tampa to Miami today and selected a seat on the left side of the plane. To be honest, I’ve only flown to Miami a few times since April, and I wasn’t seated on the right side, or it was dark outside, so I couldn’t see the airport… until today. I finally saw the Everglades Airport with my own eyes!Įver since I first wrote about this story, I’ve been looking out the window to try to see this airport when taking flights to & from Miami. Now I’m wondering what other secrets are out there (but, like, not to the point of joining some questionable cult). Okay, admittedly there’s not a whole lot to see, but I am absolutely going to this airport at some point, even if it’s just to drive up to the perimeter fence. I’ve been focused on so many other aspects of aviation in Miami, from our 64 year old cargo planes, to suspicious Swift deportation flights, to Ethiopian Airlines cruise charters.Īll the times I’ve gone into the Everglades for an airboat ride, I could have instead gone to what would have almost been the world’s largest airport. That’s not even factoring in that I live in Miami, and went all these years without knowing. Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport How did I not know this?!?Īs I mentioned above, this is arguably the most interesting aviation fact I’ve ever learned. For context, below is where the airport is located on a map. In some cases the runway has even been used for car races.ĭue to limited demand, the airport is currently only open daily from 8AM until 5:30PM. Even with that it doesn’t get much traffic - in 2015, the airport saw an average of a dozen takeoffs and landings per day. Nowadays such training isn’t as common due to how sophisticated flight simulators have become, so the airport is now primarily used by general aviation aircraft. The airport’s isolated location allowed it to be used 24/7 for training, which was a huge benefit for these purposes. It’s operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.ĭecades ago the airport was largely used for training of Pan Am and Eastern Airlines pilots, given that the long runway could accommodate Boeing 747s, and the airport was equipped with a new instrument landing system. While the airport was never developed as planned, it’s still open as a general aviation airport, and it’s known as Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.

The Boeing 2707, which never became a reality The airport still exists, though!

The Boeing 2707 program was called off, and without widespread supersonic travel, the need for an airport like this decreased.

By 1969 a report was released stating that this airport would “destroy the South Florida ecosystem and thus the Everglades National Park,” at which point residents and activists came out against the concept (how was this research not done beforehand?!).

However, within a couple of years the plans for the airport were completely called off for two reasons:

The airport’s location would allow planes to come in over the ocean and avoid inhabited areas, which was a priority due to the “sonic boom”Ĭonstruction on the airport started shortly after the 1968 plan was revealed, and a 10,000+ foot runway was quickly built.

This plan was developed shortly before the Concorde was launched and at a time when we thought supersonic travel would be the future, with the Boeing 2707 also under development, which would have been a much larger supersonic aircraft.

Since this would be in between Florida coasts, there was a plan to build a 1,000-foot-wide road and high-speed rail connecting the airport to both coasts (the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico).

The airport was supposed to be located 36 miles west of Miami, with six runways, and just six miles from Everglades National Park.

This was supposed to be the world’s largest airport, as the Dade County Port Authority purchased 39 square miles to build this the airport would have been five times the size of JFK.I finally saw the Everglades Airport with my own eyes!ĬNN has the story about how in 1968 there were plans to build the Everglades Jetport:.

Brush pilot runways in everglades