b'GENERAL AVIATIONDET3520-year lifecycle and needed an overlay. Although the city was still undecided about what to do with the property overall, Watt convinced the mayor to invest in DET after long discussions about airport infrastructure and moving forward with next-gen air mobility systems and other innovative technologies. After the $3.5 million city-funded runway overlay was completed in July 2017, the city was fully on board with revitalizing the airport, he relates.Concept, Condemnationand CommunityWatt credits councilman Scott Benson of District 3 for creating an airport task force on the City Council not only to shape the future of DET, but also to understand what airports do and what DET could do for the east side of Detroit. Task force meetings helped spread the word about developing the airport and garnered the community support necessary to make it happen, Watt explains. In 2017, the city commissioned an extensive viability study of the airport by Avion Solutions Group LLC. One of the resulting recommendations was to local chapter of Black Pilots of America;politicians had to be persuaded againstdecommission Secondary Runway 7-25 and B.O. Davis Aerospace Technical Highshuttering valuable aviation infrastructureto open up 86 acres of airport property School, which was previously located atthat might never return, NBAA supportedfor future industrial development. The the airport but has maintained ties since itsome quick coalition building thatrunway was, in fact, decommissioned in was moved in 2013.included the airport users, based tenantsNovember 2024 and crews are removing Watt explains that he and the variousand the FAA.all airfield pavements, etc. so the land can groups have built very strong relationshipsAs part of the coalition, an ad-hoceventually qualify for non-aeronautical use. during his 14 years as airport director.education association was formed,Gertsen acknowledges the challenging Honestly, I feel like promises werebecause education is a big focus ofnature of deciding to close one of DETs made, and Im going to deliver on thosewhat was already happening at DETrunways, and shares the prevailing logic. promises and make sure this airport willand an important part of the visionAt 3,700 feet, 7-25 would have had to be everything it should have always beenWatt and other supporters have for itsbe shortened significantly to meet FAA for the city, he reflects. future. The airports connections withstandards and would have lost its utility. In February 2016,B.O. Davis Aerospace Technical HighAs such, the land it occupies could Alex Gertsen, seniorSchool and the Tuskegee Airmen (theprovide more value to the airport if used director of Airportairports namesake, Coleman A. Young,for hangars; an aircraft maintenance, Advocacy andwas himself a Tuskegee Airman) helpedrepair and overhaul shop; or the Vertical Infrastructurewin over some city council members,fields fixed-base operator (FBO). One for the Nationaland facts about the airports economicdrawback, however, is that flight training Business Aviationbenefits added objective data. Thereis now impacted on days when winds are Association (NBAA),ALEX GERTSEN were also compelling legal argumentssignificant. got a call from a flightagainst closing DET associated with its obligations regarding certain landFor decades, the FAA has required the department at DET regarding the cityscity of Detroit to acquire property east of desire to close the airport and repurposepurchased with federal funds. the airport to bring the airfields footprint the land for non-aviation use. KnowingAt the time, the airports maininto compliance with federal standards. that Detroits mayor and other cityrunway,15-33, was at the end of itsBeginning in 1994, the city began AirportImprovement.comOctober 2025'