I'm "Old School!" I used to love watching planes at Metro back in the 1970's. They had an awesome observation deck above the Delta and TWA Concourse back then. You were literally right above Delta's Gate 22. You could look down and right into the cockpit of the aircraft parked at that gate. I remember evenings when Delta would often park DC-8-60's and DC-8-50's at that gate. This was back in the days of cheap fuel when they would often start the engines before pushback. Listening to the DC-8's howl like Wolves when they'd spin up was exciting.
spent many a days there . paid my dime to go thru the turnstile :) , they had the bigeyes you could look thru to watch the planes coming in and landing , then you can look right down at the delta plane going to the gate on the far end of the observation deck :) you could wave at the people in the seats and theyd wave back :) then if you went on the opposite side of the deck youd see the TWA planes and then in the Distance the American airlines planes on the far concourse in the Smith Terminal, which also had US Air, and Spirit . Best part was you could go down inside and walk to all the gates and look out at the planes, then you could walk the whole terminal, then go down the walkway to the Davey Terminal and walk thru the concourses to see the Eastern Airlines ( which always had that COOL L-1011 and North Central and Braniff and Republic and also Pass thru the Hotel lobby , then to where the Northwest and United Airlines were at the North end of the Davey,,, Man ahhh the good ole days :) . Do you remember the Pay stalls in the bathroom were like a quarter, to take a dump LOL,, and they had in the Smith terminal just behind the ticket counters a hall way that they used to have Seats with TVs on them :) and in the early 80s they had an arcade right by the Western entrance of the Smith Terminal as soon as you walked in and the whole inner part of the terminal always had Car Displays along the whole terminal between the entrances and the Ticket Counters :) , back then Planes were, 727, DC-8 , DC-9, DC-10 , 747, TWA had a 720 , and there was also A lot of Small Prop Short distance carrier Planes mostly run by American Airlines ;)
@@johnniec2861 My neighbor worked for Delta Air Freight at the maintenance hanger. One time...they had an L-1011 parked out back. We were able to come out and check it out. One of the mechanics invited us up into the cockpit while he showed his son how to start up one of the engines.
Great memories. As a kid went up to the observation deck often with my Dad and brother. Me and my brother spent the night wandering around the airport as I was 9 years old. Mom was supposed to pick us up around 9pm but she got a flat. Memories I'll hang onto forever. Thanks, Loren and Johnnie.
i love when the flight patterns take off to the north , Many of the Planes Come right over my house also when they are landing heading in southbound , Seeing those a350s and their size at a low level is awesome,, i think one day i might set up my tripod in my yard and Do a video of them flying over,, :)
Outstanding video work. That one shot of the Delta A300 with Detroit Ren Cen in the background makes it look like downtown is just around the corner. Enjoy your work.
Not surprising DTW is a major Delta hub as it was built for Northwest to be a second hub along with MSP. Both were absorbed by the merger with MSP retaining it's place as Best Mega Airport.
you can park on Middlebelt between like wick and Goddard you can also Park in the big Blue deck, by the North terminal ,, as well on the roof and really see a lot of stuff ;)
