Benjamín Rivera Noriega Airport is a public use airport on the island of Culebra in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. The airport is owned by the

Puerto Rico Ports Authority The Puerto Rico Ports Authority (PRPA) (; AP) is a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico charged with developing, operating, and overseeing all seaports and airports in Puerto Rico. The Authority is ascribed to the Department of Transpor ...

. It is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport. However, the airport does offer scheduled passenger service.

History

The airport of Culebra was originally built as a military airport by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, opening in 1957. In 1965, the government of Puerto Rico started flying civilians from

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

to the island with a Legislative compensation. After the Navy-Culebra protests, the

started administering the civilian flight operations in Culebra, inaugurating the first passenger terminal on October 24, 1976. The airport and its 80

acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...

were officially transferred to the Ports Authority in 1980. A new passenger terminal was inaugurated in 1994, and its name was changed to Benjamín Rivera Noriega, in honor of a pilot from

Ciales Ciales (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of Florida and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Cial ...

. He became a community leader recognized by his service to the residents of Culebra.

Facilities and aircraft

Benjamín Rivera Noriega Airport covers an area of 15

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s (6 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of 49 feet (15 m) above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has one

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

designated 13/31 with an

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

surface measuring 2,600 by 50 feet (792 x 15 m). The airport is noted for the mountain less than from the north end of the runway. This obstacle and the short length of the runway keep jet aircraft from using this airport. Commercial operations are currently limited to propeller aircraft with 10 seats or less. The approach to this airport is considered good practice for pilots before flying to

Saint Barthélemy Airport Gustaf III Airport , also known as Saint Barthélemy Airport, Rémy de Haenen Airport, sometimes as St. Jean Airport (), is a public use airport located in the village of St. Jean on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. Due to its very sh ...

. The St Thomas

VOR/DME In radio navigation, a VOR/DME is a radio beacon that combines a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) with a distance-measuring equipment (DME). The VOR allows the receiver to measure its bearing to or from the beacon, while the DME provides the sla ...

(Ident: STT) is located east of the airport. The Roosevelt Roads

TACAN A tactical air navigation system, commonly referred to by the acronym TACAN, is a navigation system initially designed for naval aircraft to acquire moving landing platforms (i.e., ships) and later expanded for use by other military aircraft. It p ...

(Ident: NRR) is located west-southwest of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Incidents

On July 1, 2011, a

Cessna 185 The Cessna 185 Skywagon is a six-seat, single-engined, general aviation light aircraft manufactured by Cessna. It first flew as a prototype in July 1960, with the first production model completed in March 1961. The Cessna 185 is a high-winge ...

that took off from Benjamin Rivera Noriega airport with a family of five on board, registration number N8436Q, crashed while on its way to

Mercedita Airport Mercedita International Airport (AIM) () is an international airport located three nautical miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The airport covers 270 '' cuerdas'' (approx. 262.2 acres) of land ...

in Ponce. One body was found in

Humacao Humacao () is a city and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 12 barrios and Humacao Pueblo (the ...

. The other four passengers are presumed dead. The plane's wreckage was found immersed in water at the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, near Yabucoa.

References

External links