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Don Boyd | all galleries >> People, Family and Friends Photo Galleries >> Don Boyd or Don with Friends - 2000 through 2009 > April 2000 - daughter Karen and Don Boyd on his last day at Miami International Airport
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10-APR-2000 Marie Clark-Vincent

April 2000 - daughter Karen and Don Boyd on his last day at Miami International Airport

E-Tower, Miami International Airport


Thanks to Don Innes, an FAA Air Traffic Control Supervisor and neighbor who worked for the FAA at MIA, I used to visit this tower as a kid when it was the FAA Air Traffic Control Tower for Miami International Airport. The large radar room occupied the 7th floor of the terminal and you had to call on the elevator phone for the supervisor on duty to flip a switch that would allow the elevator to go up to the 7th floor to see the radar room and then up two flights to the tower cab.

The FAA moved to the west side of MIA in 1984 and Pan Am leased it until they died in December 1991. My Airside Ops Gate Control section took over the tower in January 1992, after considerable speedy renovation, for use by the Gate Controllers assigning gates, sharing a portion of the tower cab with American Airlines ramp controllers.

(884 hits before removal from http://www.pbase.com/airlinerphotos on 1/2/06)


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Don Boyd26-Mar-2012 04:32
Karl, it certainly was your dad who allowed me to come down and sit with controllers in the radar room and then up in the tower cab with absolutely no time constraints. It made a huge impression on me and I vividly remember the visit even though it was 52 years ago. I never met your dad again because he retired in 1972 and I didn't start with the airport until 1974.

Yes, I believe that was the story I heard from the old-timers, all former Port Authority ramp supervisors, about your grandfather when I got on with Airside Ops at MIA. I never connected his last name with that of your dad's last name. It is a small world indeed.

Thanks for writing, it was a great pleasure to hear from you. I'm glad I made that screen print from the Arthur Godfrey movie so you could see your dad in action in the tower. He truly deserves to be remembered in my opinion because of his kindness to me when I was 12.

Don
Karl A. Innes 25-Mar-2012 23:19
Don,

I believe in another area (I think it was in the area where you breakdown all the neighbors in the county area around 112th Terrace) you stated that Don Innes gave you your first tour of the MIA tower. Don was my father and was a supervisor for years until he retired in 1972. He passed away in 1979.

And you also mentioned that my grandfather worked for the then Dade County Port Authority and that you had heard stories when you worked for the Aviation Department. He actually had a heart attack and died while on-duty. He was eating lunch at one of the drug stores on 36th Street and laid his head down and died. It must have been around '60-62?