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On Monday morning, in front of officials from the Detroit public school district, city and wider community, 17-year-old Caiyla Turner was ready to give her testimony.
The teen, who is going into her senior year at Davis Aerospace Technical High School in the fall, recounted that her academic journey hasn’t been easy.
At Turner’s previous school, she wasn’t academically challenged and felt like she didn’t belong with her peers. Through the urging of her mother, counselors, and teachers, Turner transferred to the Detroit aviation school at the start of her junior year. Immediately, things turned around.
“When I first got to Davis, I felt like, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I just get myself into?’” Turner said. “There’s a lot of hard work you have to put in and a lot of effort, but I’ve had so much support that it’s actually fun.”
Turner was one of several speakers at a Monday news conference at the Coleman A. Young International Airport, as Detroit Public Schools Community District celebrated the news of Davis Aerospace’s return to the east side runway after a 12-year hiatus. Announced last month, the new school building will be funded by a $7 million appropriation from the State of Michigan, alongside district funding with support from the DPSCD Foundation.
The district’s philanthropic arm is investing more than $32 million toward the relocation of Davis Aerospace and redevelopment of the vacant Cooley High School into a district and community-based sports facility.
The high school is scheduled to open at the airport in fall 2026.
The move back to City Airport will expand the aviation and engineering curriculum to include hands-on training and allow the school to enroll as many as 200 students, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said. There are currently 100 students enrolled at the school, which is housed at Golightly Career and Technical Center.
“What’s different about this program is that it’s a high school; it’s not a career tech program where you come in the a.m. or p.m.,” Vitti said. “You’re not only here to take the aviation and aerospace classes, but you’re taking your core [English Language Arts], math, science and social studies. We’re beginning to do this, but ultimately, we want to move more into integrating aviation, aerospace, STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] and even the other core areas. That’s what makes this program unique.”
Principal Michelle Davis said four students recently passed the written portion of their exam to obtain a private pilot’s license. This allows them to practice for the flight exam for the upcoming school year, she said. Vitti said at a recent board meeting that the opportunity to get a pilot’s license has not happened for students since 2013. In addition, nine students received their Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, drone certifications.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this endeavor,” she said. “It has been a long road, but we’re very, very excited.”
Meanwhile, Turner is grateful at how far she’s come since enrolling at Davis Aerospace and going after her goal of pursuing a career in engineering.
“I’m excited to be here, and I just wanted to give my little testimony,” she said. “I always felt like I was so far behind. I felt like my voice didn’t really have power, but it actually does, and I’m so happy that all those voices in my head were proven wrong.”
‘Bringing something back that absolutely made sense’
After opening in 1986, Davis Aerospace relocated from City Airport to Golightly in 2013 while the district was under state-appointed emergency manager Roy Roberts. Without access to the airport, the school could no longer help students obtain the federal certification in aviation mechanics that would give them an inside track to steady, high-paying jobs.
Moving Davis Aerospace back to City Airport has been a goal for DPSCD since the district announced its facility master plan in 2022. But inadequate funding has been the main factor in the plan’s delay. Costs to relocate Davis Aerospace to the airport include converting one of the terminals into a school building.
When he became superintendent in 2017, Vitti began receiving emails asking if Davis Aerospace would return to the airport. On Monday, he said the move could not have been done without the effort of Mayor Mike Duggan, the Detroit City Council, the Michigan Legislature, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“Bringing Davis Aerospace back to the City Airport was about doing something that was done wrongly to the city and to the school system through emergency management,” Vitti said. “This was about bringing something back that absolutely made sense. It should have never been taken away from the district and the city. And so, today is a long time coming.”
Council member Coleman Young II also spoke Monday about his late father, former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and his time in the military and being denied the opportunity to fly.
“The reason why I bring that up is because my father’s sacrifice yesterday and being denied opportunity allowed the next generation today and tomorrow to learn to fly and so, as a legacy of that, I am humbled and I am honored to be here today for Davis Aerospace to come back to the Coleman A. Young Airport,” Young II said.
Later, Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Lawrence Millben took to the podium, saying he was the first Black student to graduate from Davis Aerospace in 1954, when it was still called Aero Mechanics High School. He’s been a member of the Davis Aerospace Technical Advisory Committee since 1978 and was one of the activists pushing for the school’s return to the airport.
“I’d like to mention one thing [Winston] Churchill said, ‘This is not the end.’ Moving back to the airport is not the end. It’s not the beginning of the end, although it may be the end of the beginning,” Millben said.
As the next generation of Davis Aerospace students, Turner and Herbert Anderson are looking forward to their senior year. After passing the written portion of his private pilot exam, Anderson, 18, is looking forward to being back in the sky, practicing his flying skills. The confident teen said he’s not anxious about piloting a plane.
“Honestly, I know I got it down pat,” Anderson told BridgeDetroit. “I did it before, so I know I can definitely do it again.”
After high school, he hopes to go into the U.S. Naval Academy or Tuskegee University, fly fighter jets for the Navy, then buy a nice house in the suburbs, Anderson said.
Turner is also studying to obtain her pilot’s license next year in addition to being a teaching assistant to receive her teaching certification. After graduation, she hopes to get accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, pursue a career in engineering, travel and eventually create a nonprofit that supports young women who want to pursue a career in STEM.
While Anderson and Turner will no longer be students when Davis Aerospace is housed at the airport again, they’re excited for the next wave of students who will have that experience.
“It’s such a great achievement because I know so many students are going to grow through that and they’re going to learn so many things,” Turner said. “It’s just going to be an even better community there and it’s gonna be a whole journey and experience.”
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
