Ross Richardson wrote:
three-eight-hotel wrote:
Driving in on highway 29 South from the airport, towards downtown,
took us right by the downtown airport, as what looked like a Malibu
was taking off. It was such a cool site, taking in the background
of downtown, the layout of the airport, and the plane blending into
the landscape!

I grew up in the KC area and it was always an interesting scene if you
were driving on I-70, just south of the airport, when a plane was taking
off to the south. It was especially fun if you had someone from out of
town in the car with you - the first time they saw this from the ground,
they were certain that the plane wouldn't clear the buildings downtown.
As far as I know, though, that never happened.

There use to be a Fairfax airport right across the river and a hot
line between the two towers - talking to one tower and landing at
the other airport.

http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/KSCOLL/lo...ennow/TN05.htm
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/KS/..._E.htm#fairfax

In the early 1990s I worked in Fairfax. I had visited the area before
then but I don't ever remember airplanes landing there. By the time I
was working there, the GM plant had been built in the middle of the
field, but a few of the airport buildings were still there. I remember
one building at the northeast corner of Fairfax Trafficway and Funston
that was still there in about 1992. It may have been the old terminal;
I remember that it was clearly marked "Fairfax Aiport". By 1995 it had
been torn down. I want to say that the Save-a-Connie people were
originally working out of Fairfax, but that might be incorrect.

A lot of Fairfax was/is owned by the Union Pacific. They bought the
land cheap, laid tracks, and leased it out cheap to companies to get
their freight business. Originally it was not even a part of Kansas
City, Kansas - it had its own fire department, for instance - but it was
later annexed.

I got to do T&Gs in a Cessna with a L-1011 in the pattern at MCI before
it offically opened for commerical operations.

As I understand it, the runways and some of the buildings (maybe the TWA
maintenance facility?) at MCI were built and operational several years
before the terminals were built and opened.

Matt Roberds