Group seeks renewal of Detroit's Coleman A. Young Airport

The group, known as the Coleman A. Young International Airport Education Association, was created and is seeking donations against a backdrop in which city officials have taken preliminary steps to explore nonaviation uses of the airport, which serves as Detroit’s general aviation and reliever field.

Volunteer members of the association come from a broad cross-section of the community, including corporate flight department Air Eagle, fixed-base operator Avflight, the Black Pilots Association, the Davis Aerospace Technical High School Advisory Committee, the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative, the Eximious Flying Club, Friends of Detroit City Airport, the National Business Aviation Association, the Tuskegee Airmen, and representatives of “high-profile companies and citizen groups,” it said in a news release.

“By supporting the renewal of the airport, we’re preserving an important component of the National Airspace System,” said Executive Director Dave Tarrant. “In addition, recovering the full potential of the Davis School will support the urgent need to help train and supply aviation professionals to the rapidly expanding market for these services. Business aviation will directly benefit by supporting the Education Association in its mission to renew the Airport.”

Tarrant noted immediate association goals of raising awareness of the airport’s value; advocating for policy changes that support revitalization; bringing the Davis Aerospace Technical High School—the name honors Tuskegee Airman Benjamin O. Davis—back to the airport property, thereby reversing a 2013 relocation; constructing a new school facility to support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education; and “supporting the rebirth of the Gratiot (Avenue) corridor between the airport and downtown Detroit.”

“General aviation airports serve as vital transportation service centers to their respective communities. These satellite centers provide air traffic control and relief from large municipal airports and a staging and training site for emergency response services,” the announcement of the group's formation said.

In August, AOPA reported on a volunteer airport-beautification day event at Coleman A. Young Airport at which a petition for restoring the Davis Aerospace Technical High School to the premises, considered key to the airport’s future, was available for signing.