Grosse Ile Municipal Airport is on Grosse Ile, in

Wayne County, Michigan Wayne County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the List of the most populous counties in the United States, 19th ...

. It is owned by the Township of Grosse Ile. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2017–2021 categorized it as a local reliever airport facility. Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer program ...

for the FAA and

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, but Grosse Ile Municipal Airport is ONZ to the FAA and has no IATA code.

History

In 1929 the airport opened as Naval Reserve Air Base Ile, with a training school, seaplane base, and dirigible hangar. In 1930 Thomas Towle used the hangars to build his

Towle TA-3 The Towle TA-3 was an amphibious aircraft based on the Towle TA-2. Development Thomas Towle was an engineer that had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman E-2 Sea Rover. The TA-3 was a six-seat fol ...

diesel powered amphibian. Renamed as Naval Air Station Grosse Ile during World War II, the installation operated until 1969, when it was closed and turned over to the Township in 1971 for use as a general aviation airport. A memorial garden sits directly behind Township Hall, the former Hangar One, to honor the men and women who served in the armed forces at the

Naval Air Station Grosse Ile Naval Air Station Grosse Ile was a Naval air station located on the southern tip of Grosse Ile, Michigan. It operated from 1927 until late 1969, and is now a township airport. During World War II NASGI was one of the largest primary flight train ...

. On the evening of September 25, 2018 an EF1

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

, one of a three tornado outbreak in the area, crossed the airfield at about 9:00 PM local time. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

George H.W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

got naval pilot training at the Naval Air Base. Bush finished his active Navy career at NASGI attached to Torpedo Squadron 153(VT-153), as did game show host

Bob Barker Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's '' The Price Is Right'', the longest-running game show in North American television ...

. In 2020, ''DBusiness Magazine'' named Grosse Ile as one of the Top Regional Airports for

corporate aviation Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ae ...

Facilities

The airport covers and has two

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

runways: runway 4/22 measures 4,846 x 100 ft (1,477 x 30 m), and runway 17/35 measures 4,425 x 75 ft (1,349 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2020, the airport had 16,000 aircraft operations, or roughly 44 per day. All are

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

. For the same time period, there are 70 aircraft based on the field: 57 single-engine and 9 multi-engine

airplanes An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, ...

, 3

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

, and 1 jet. The airport is reached by taking Jefferson Street to the Grosse Ile Parkway and turning right onto Meridian Road. Continue on Meridian Road and turn right onto Groh Road. Watch for the Township Hall sign on the left (about 200-250 yards), which marks the entrance to the parking lot. The airport offices are on the second floor. The airport has a

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down, and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...

offering fuel, aircraft parking, catering, courtesy cars, conference rooms, crew lounges, snooze rooms, showers, and more.

Accidents and incidents

*On September 2, 1996, a

Piper PA-28 Cherokee The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 62–64. Werner & Werner Corp, ...

crashed while on initial climb out of Grosse Ile and subsequently impacted the river while en route to

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

. Of the four onboard, the pilot and one passenger received serious injuries, and another two passengers received fatal injuries. Witnesses reported the aircraft appeared to be struggling to climb and then entered a steep left bank, losing altitude steadily until it impacted

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

. Other witnesses say they couldn't hear the engine running. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot's exceeding the critical angle of bank required to maintain altitude. *On July 11, 2002, a plane crashed into the

Detroit River The Detroit River is an List of international river borders, international river in North America. The river, which forms part of the border between the U.S. state of Michigan and the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ont ...

after takeoff from Grosse Ile. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued the two aboard, who were not injured. *On June 23, 2011, a small plane crashed at Grosse Ile when its

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

collapsed on landing. There was one pilot aboard. *On July 11, 2020, an

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

crashed into a residential area while operating at Grosse Ile Airport.

References

External links

* * * {{Airports in Michigan Airports in Wayne County, Michigan Airports established in 1929 Historic American Engineering Record in Michigan

History

Facilities

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

External links