Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport
(formerly Opa-locka Airport and Opa-locka Executive Airport until 2014) is a joint civil-military airport located in
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
north of downtown Miami.
Part of the airport is in the city limits of
Opa-locka
Opa-locka is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,463, up from 15,219 in 2010. The city was developed by Glenn Curtiss. Developed based on a ''One Thousand and One Nights'' theme, Op ...
. The
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015
called it a
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
''
reliever airport
A relief airport or reliever airport is an airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport(s) requires additional capacity, on a long-term or temporary basis. Reliever a ...
''.
The FAA-contract control tower is manned from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. The airport has four fixed-base operators. It is owned by Miami-Dade County and operated by the
Miami-Dade Aviation Department The Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) is an agency of the Miami-Dade County government that manages airports. As of 2021 Ralph Cutié is the interim director of the agency. The Arts and Cultural Affairs division was created, and is managed by, ...
.
The sole remaining military activity at the airport is
Coast Guard Air Station Miami
Coast Guard Air Station Miami is an Air Station of the United States Coast Guard located at Opa-locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida. The station operates the HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft and the MH-65 Dolphin helicop ...
, operating from federal property not deeded to the county. It hosts
EADS HC-144 Ocean Sentry turboprops; and
MH-65 Dolphin
The Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin is a twin-engined helicopter operated by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for medevac-capable search and rescue (SAR) and armed Airborne Use of Force missions. It is a variant of the French-built Eurocopter AS ...
helicopters for coastal patrol, deployment aboard medium endurance and high endurance coast guard cutters, and
air-sea rescue
Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people ...
. Much of CGAS Miami's facilities were built during World War II as part of Naval Air Station Miami.
DayJet
DayJet was an American commercial aviation operation that provided on-demand jet travel using Eclipse 500 very light jets. Founded by Ed Iacobucci, the former leader of the IBM-Microsoft Joint OS/2 development team IBM executive and the foun ...
provided on-demand jet
air charter
Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline).
Regulation
Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...
services to 44 airports in 5 states; it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 2008.
The airport is served by several cargo and charter airlines that use the U.S. customs facility. Maintenance and modification of airliners up to Boeing 747 size is carried out by several aviation firms.
History
Aviation pioneer
Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...
retired from aircraft development and manufacturing in the 1920s and became a real estate developer in Florida. In 1926, he founded the city of
Opa-locka
Opa-locka is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,463, up from 15,219 in 2010. The city was developed by Glenn Curtiss. Developed based on a ''One Thousand and One Nights'' theme, Op ...
, naming it Opa-tisha-woka-locka (quickly shortened to Opa-locka), a Native American name that translates into ''the high land north of the little river with a camping place.''
In late 1925, he moved the Florida Aviation Camp from Hialeah to a parcel west of Opa-locka. This small airfield was surrounded by the Opa-locka Golf Course. In 1929, he transferred the land to the
City of Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at t ...
, which erected a World War I surplus hangar from
Key West. The field became known as the Municipal Blimp Hangar. The following year, the
Goodyear Blimp started operating out of this hangar.
In 1928, Curtiss made a separate donation of land two miles south of Opa-locka for Miami's first Municipal Airport. The Curtiss Aviation School later moved from
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...
to this airport. A larger area to the east of Miami Municipal Airport was developed during the 1930s as ''All-American Airport''. After Curtiss died in 1930, his estate transferred a parcel of land north of the golf course and the Florida Aviation Camp to the city of Miami. The city then leased it to the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
.
Curtiss had been lobbying for the establishment of the Naval Reserve Base in Miami since 1928, and this property became a
Naval Reserve Aviation Training Base (NRATB), which later became an active installation renamed
Naval Air Station Miami
Coast Guard Air Station Miami is an Air Station of the United States Coast Guard located at Opa-locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida. The station operates the HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft and the MH-65 Dolphin helicopte ...
. The installation was extremely active during World War II and saw significant military construction on the main base as well as several additional auxiliary airfields in the general area. Much of this construction is still in existence today. Training in fighter, dive-bombing and torpedo bombing skills took place at various times during the base's operation. The
Brewster F2A Buffalo
The Brewster F2A Buffalo is an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modificatio ...
fighter,
Douglas SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/di ...
dive bomber,
Grumman TBF Avenger
The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval a ...
torpedo bomber, and the
Grumman F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atlant ...
fighter were some of the aircraft based at the facility. In addition to serving as headquarters for the 7th Naval District, the station supported a naval air gunnery school, a Marine Corps Air Station, a Coast Guard Station, and a small craft training center. The peak complement, reached in 1945, consisted of 7,200 officers and men and 3,100 civilian employees.
Postwar, the installation returned to its former role as a Naval Air Reserve and Marine Air Reserve installation, but retained the name NAS Miami and the colloquial name of Master Field. Following the departure of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, but the retention of
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve flying and aviation support units, Master Field became Marine Corps Air Station Miami (MCAS Miami), circa 1955. With the transfer of Marine Air Reserve squadrons and support units to
Naval Air Station Jacksonville
Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville) is a large naval air station located approximately eight miles (13 km) south of the central business district of Jacksonville, Florida, United States., effective 2007-10-25
Location
NAS Jac ...
, Florida in 1958 and 1959, MCAS Miami was marked for closure and the air station closed as a Department of the Navy installation in 1959. Much of the former military property was transferred to Dade County and the Dade County Junior College opened on the site in 1961.
In 1962, the remainder of the former Naval Air Station Miami/Marine Corps Air Station Miami property, except for a portion reserved for the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...
for establishment of a new coast guard air station, was transferred to
Dade County and became Opa-locka Airport. However, events of the
Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 led to much of the former air station again being requisitioned by the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
for use as an additional staging base for U.S. strike forces, augmenting the active duty air force bases and naval air stations in Florida in the event the crisis led to war.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
civil engineers from the
Tactical Air Command (TAC) arrived at the airfield late in the evening of October 22 and proceeded to work around the clock. In one instance, TAC civil engineering personnel rehabilitated the aging petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) fuel farm and distribution infrastructure originally constructed by the Navy in the 1940s, bringing the facility to fully operational status in just 3½ days. Other airfield and air base support improvements were also implemented to support tactical aircraft operations. However, the crisis passed through diplomatic means and the airfield was never required to serve as a strike installation against Soviet and Cuban forces.
In 1965,
Coast Guard Air Station Miami
Coast Guard Air Station Miami is an Air Station of the United States Coast Guard located at Opa-locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida. The station operates the HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft and the MH-65 Dolphin helicop ...
transferred its aircraft and operations from its
Dinner Key
Dinner Key is a marina complex in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, along the shore of Biscayne Bay on South Bayshore Drive. It was originally an island, but was connected to the mainland in 1914 by filling in the intervening space. ...
seaplane installation to the Opa-locka Airport, re-establishing CGAS Miami on site. CGAS Miami continues to operate on site with
EADS HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft and
MH-65 Dolphin
The Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin is a twin-engined helicopter operated by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for medevac-capable search and rescue (SAR) and armed Airborne Use of Force missions. It is a variant of the French-built Eurocopter AS ...
helicopters.
For the year 1963, Opa-locka was the 42nd busiest civil airport in the country by total operations count. In 1964, it was ranked eighteenth, in 1965, it was third, and in 1966 and 1967, it was second behind O'Hare. In 1971, it was down to seventeenth. In 1979, 551,873 operations were recorded, making it the seventh busiest airport in the nation.
According to
Sebastián Marroquín (born Juan Pablo Escobar), his father
Pablo Escobar and cousin
Gustavo Gaviria
Gustavo de Jesús Gaviria Rivero (25 December 1946 – 11 August 1990) was a Colombian drug trafficker. As Pablo Escobar's cousin and right-hand man, Gaviria controlled the Medellín cartel's finances and trade routes. He and Escobar ha ...
"did a practice run to test-ship a hundred kilos of cocaine in a twin-engine
Piper Seneca
The Piper PA-34 Seneca is a twin-engined light aircraft, produced in the United States by Piper Aircraft. It has been in non-continuous production since 1971. The Seneca is primarily used for personal and business flying.
Development
The Sene ...
plane. It arrived at Opa Locka Airport, a private airport in the heart of Miami used exclusively by wealthy Americans, without a hitch." Subsequently, he wrote, "because they'd already successfully landed a shipment there, for more than a year Miami's Opa Locka Airport was my father's drug-trafficking destination."
Some of the
9/11 hijackers
Hijacking may refer to:
Common usage
Computing and technology
* Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth
* Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand
* Browser hijacking
* Clickjacking (including ''like ...
trained at the airport.
On October 7, 2014, the Miami-Dade County Commission voted to change the name of the airport to "Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport" as part of a rebranding scheme of all Miami-area airports to include the name "Miami".
Facilities
The airport covers 1,880
acres (761
ha) at an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic 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 surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...
of 8 feet (2 m). It has three
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...
s: 9L/27R is 8,002 by 150 feet (2,439 x 46 m); 9R/27L is 4,309 by 100 feet (1,313 x 30 m); 12/30 is 6,800 by 150 feet (2,073 x 46 m).
Fire protection
Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...
is provided by
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department
The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department (MDFR) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the unincorporated parts of Miami-Dade County, Florida, along with 30 municipalities located within the county. In all the department is respo ...
Station 25.
In the year ending May 24, 2017 the airport had 147,638 operations, average 404 per day: 87%
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
, 6% military, 6%
air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...
, and <1% airline. 171 aircraft were then based at the airport: 46% single-engine, 26% multi-engine, 21% jet, 4%
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
, and 3% military.
Incidents
* In 1970,
Douglas C-49K N12978 of
Air Carrier
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...
was damaged beyond economic repair when it caught fire.
* On January 21, 1982,
Douglas DC-3A N211TA of
Tursair, after departing from Opa-locka Airport, was destroyed in an accident at the
Opa-locka West Airport
Opa-locka West Airport was a county-owned public airport located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the central business district of Miami, a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It covered an area of which contained two asphalt ...
(X46). The aircraft was on a training flight and the trainee pilot mishandled the engine controls, causing a temporary loss of power. The aircraft ran off the runway and collided with a tree. Inadequate supervision and the failure of the student pilot to relinquish control of the aircraft to the instructor were cited as contributing to the accident.
* On May 2, 2011, a
Beech E18S (N18R) crashed shortly after takeoff from OPF. The pilot was the only person on board and died in the crash. The NTSB report cited maintenance failures as contributing to the loss of power accident. The aircraft crashed into a home. Besides the death of the pilot, there were no other injuries.
References
External links
Opa-locka Executive Airport official site
* brochure fro
CFASPPAerial image as of February 1999from
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
''
The National Map
''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...
''
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Opa-Locka Airport
Airports in Miami-Dade County, Florida
Opa-locka, Florida
Airports established in 1925
United States Coast Guard Aviation
1925 establishments in Florida