In April 2013, a United States Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet took its final flight, arriving in Traverse City from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod. Then-Air Station Traverse City Commander Joseph Buzzella had secured the jet to be donated and to remain on permanent display in Traverse City.

Now it appears that jet might finally be headed toward a public display by summer 2017.

Current Air Station Traverse City Commander Greg Matyas confirms he has been able to clarify the jet’s status as an official “static display” with Coast Guard headquarters, and plans are underway to prepare a final resting site for the jet at Airport Access Road and Parsons Road at the entrance to the Coast Guard station and the former airport terminal.

A lot has happened in the years since the jet’s arrival in 2013. Commander Buzzella completed his command, Commander Sean Cross took over and subsequently left, and Commander Matyas took over in June 2015. Matyas discovered that the Falcon had been in a sort of administrative limbo; was the jet to remain Coast Guard property and be displayed on Coast Guard grounds, or be donated and displayed on Cherry Capital Airport grounds? Coast Guard headquarters has specific rules for specific applications.

Those issues have been resolved. Matyas says getting the Falcon designated as a “static display” will allow it to remain Coast Guard property, yet displayed on Airport grounds for the public to enjoy.

Cherry Capital Airport Director Kevin Klein says, “It will be a commemoration of our town as a Coast Guard City and the fact that the air station has been here since coming out of World War II. I’m very excited and the airport commission is very excited. It’s been one of their goals to be supportive of the Coast Guard in that way.”

The jet and a commemorative plaque will be located on the eastern side of the corner of Parsons and Airport Access Roads. The design of the display will be based on similar versions in Alabama and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Klein says the airport will contribute approximately $35,000 for the cement pad and some electrical work (Klein adds that the airport intends to re-work the traffic islands and entire intersection in the next five years so that drivers and bikers on the TART Trail are more visible to each other).

Though the cement pad could be in place this year, some logistics and work remain to get the aircraft ready for display and moved to the site. Matyas says the Falcon will get a paint touch-up, its windows darkened, and its tires filled with rubber. Then there will be the issue of how to get the jet from the Air Station Traverse City property down Airport Access Drive to its eventual destination.

“Some work remains before it’s finished,” says Matyas, “including the fact that we’ll likely have to tear down the fence to get it out.”

The Falcon has a storied history in the Coast Guard and in Traverse City. In 1986, a premature baby was delivered aboard a Falcon during an air evacuation from Alpena to Traverse City. That same year a Falcon assisted in the recovery search for space shuttle Challenger following that tragedy.

The Falcon conducted search-and-rescue, quick response, and law enforcement missions while in Traverse City from 1983-1986. The fixed wing jet was eventually replaced by helicopters with longer range.

Commander Matyas says his goal is to have the display be complete and open to the public before his change of command next June.