Miami Dade TaT airport
INTRODUCTION:
If you’ve ever been to South Florida, you’re probably aware of the many airports, the big 3, Miami International Airport (MIA), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) and the smaller but still prominent ones like all the executive ones and Boca Raton (BCT)
One you may not know however is the Miami Dade Collier Training and Transition (TNT) as the name suggests, it is located in Miami Dade County but really out west from the city and MIA, in fact, it is in the middle of the Everglades.
It may look small, but this airport had much more potential and probably could’ve been the biggest airport in the US by land area at some point, I present the story of the Miami Dade TaT airport or simply TNT.
THE BEGINNINGS AND DESIGN:
The project was started in 1968 as the Everglades Jetport, this came at the perfect time as the Concorde was about to take the skies as the first commercial super sonic aircraft and Boeing was working on the 2707 during this period as well.
As this idea got popular, South Florida seemed like a good target to send these aircraft especially since TNT was far away from civilization so the sonic boom the Concorde made wouldn’t be too harmful.
The airport was projected to be the world’s biggest airport covering 39 square miles, six runways and be connected to Miami and the Gulf of Mexico by monorails and expressways. This made TNT 5 times bigger than New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
THE UNEXPECTED STOP:
Boeing 727 landing at TNT in 1972 after the mega airport concept was abandoned
In 1970, construction on Collier airport stopped only after one of five planned runways was completed because of growing concerns of the Florida Everglades especially if the SST was supposed to fly there. Eventually, the remaining land became the Big Cypress National Reserve.
While the mega airport concept was dead, the airport itself wasn’t as it was still used as a general aviation airport and even for training by now defunct, PAN AM and Eastern Airlines (both who had big MIA presences during this period) as the sole 10,500ft long runway could easily Boeing 747s. TNT was perfect for training flights thanks to small, isolated field, it could be used 24/7 without interference of MIAs traffic.
Concorde would eventually makes it appearance at Miami International Airport (MIA)
TNT TODAY:
Collier airport in 2025 remains as a general aviation airport, Training flights have unfortunately become less common as flight simulators have become more prominent for these purposes.
Outside of aviation, it is often used for high speed car events thanks to the long runway they can easily reach their top speeds. In 2009, oil exploration was considered here but never went through along with the Miami Dade air show which would’ve been hosted here being rejected by the US Military.
CONCLUSION:
While it would’ve been a really cool concept, there were just too many problems plaguing Collier airport and with the high costs and later oil crisis, there would’ve been no way that TNT would have made it.
And even if it did, the county or even other government factions would’ve have had the airport shut down to preserve the wildlife surrounding the airport.
This has been the big dream small reality of Miami Dade Collier Training and Transition airport by @NonStopsAviation thanks for reading!
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