Canton–Plymouth Mettetal Airport is a public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located in Canton Township,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States. The airport lies two nautical miles (3.7 km) south of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, in Wayne County.Canton township, Wayne county, Michigan
"

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

. Retrieved on October 28, 2009. The airport is owned and operated by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). It is also referred to as Mettetal Airport. The airport is uncontrolled (non-towered), and is used for general aviation purposes. It is included in the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a local reliever airport facility. In 2017, the airport was home to a prototype flying cars produced by Detroit Flying Cars. The company's goal was to produce an aircraft that both drove like a standard car and flew like a standard aircraft. The project has been exhibited at shows such as the EAA AirVenture Airshow in

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

. There is an ongoing effort to close 1D2. A local group cites prohibited test flights, noise abatement procedures, illegally registered aircraft, the presence of two dozen nearby airports, a high annual budget, numerous fatal crashes, and more to advocate for the airfield's closure.

History

The airport was founded in the 1930s as a grass strip to support crop dusting for nearby farmers. It was established as a public-use airport in 1939.

Facilities and aircraft

Canton–Plymouth Mettetal Airport covers an area of at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 696 feet (212 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 18/36 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,303 by 75 feet (702 x 23 m). No commercial airline service is available, although many small flight schools are based there. Due to the short runway length, touch and go operations, commonly used in flight training, are prohibited. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2020, the airport had 13,870

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

aircraft operations, an average of 38 per day. For the same time period, there were 78 aircraft based at the field: 72 single-engine and 3 multi-engine airplanes as well as 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 attributes ...

. In late 2015, the airport was damaged by a sudden, unforecasted tornado. The airport has several hangars for aircraft storage. In early 2022, a new helicopter-focused hangar opened that doubled available hangar space. The airport has an FBO, which offers fuel as well as aircraft parking.

Accidents & Incidents

*On April 18, 1998, a Cessna 150 crashed south of the airport during a training flight. The aircraft had just departed Canton–Plymouth Mettetal Airport en route to Willow Run when the engine lost power, and the aircraft executed a forced landing in a nearby field. *On October 20, 2002, a

Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six The Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six is a series of single-engine, fixed landing gear, light aircraft manufactured in the United States by Piper Aircraft between 1965 and 2007.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 63. Werner & Werner Co ...

crashed while landing at Canton. The aircraft went off the side of the runway and struck the VASI lighting system, after which the aircraft caught fire. The probable cause was found to be the pilot's failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft as well as inoperative right main landing gear brake. Contributing factors include a failed brake master cylinder seal, an inadequate preflight inspection by the pilot, a fuel fire, and the pilot's decision to operate the aircraft with a known brake problem. *On October 14, 2019, a

Vans RV-4 The Van's RV-4 is an American light homebuilt aircraft supplied in kit form by Van's Aircraft of Aurora, Oregon. It seats two people in a tandem seating configuration with the pilot accommodated in the front seat.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''20 ...

crashed during landing at Canton-Plymouth.

References

External links

* at Michigan Airport Directory
Aerial photo as of 27 March 1999
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * Airports in Wayne County, Michigan Canton, MichiganYunsucc {{Michigan-airport-stub