Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (KOPF) is a joint civil-military reliever airfield in Miami-Dade County, Florida, just north of Miami International Airport, tracing its origins to aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and a long naval and Cold War history. Today it is a busy general and business aviation field with a Coast Guard air-sea rescue station still on the field, offering full FBO support, an ILS approach and a demanding mix of fixed-wing and helicopter traffic for the visiting VFR pilot.
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, known to pilots as KOPF, is a general aviation reliever for Miami International Airport, owned by Miami-Dade County and operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. It combines a busy civilian business-aviation and flight-training scene with a continuing military presence, hosting Coast Guard Air Station Miami, reputedly the world's busiest air-sea rescue station. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix: a Class D tower environment, an ILS-equipped runway, dedicated helicopter patterns, and a site with a deep aviation pedigree stretching back to Glenn Curtiss and the Naval Air Station Miami era.
The airport lies in Miami-Dade County, Florida, about 11 miles north of downtown Miami, with part of the field within the city limits of Opa-locka. It sits under Class D airspace, with the tower controlling the surface up to 2,000 feet AGL, and inbound VFR traffic is expected to enter the airport traffic area below 2,000 feet. Miami International Airport lies close by to the south, and North Perry Airport lies a short distance to the north, so pilots should expect coordination with Miami Approach/Departure when operating in the vicinity.
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport has two physical runways. Runway 12/30 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway measuring 6,795 feet on the runway 30 alignment; runway 12 carries an ILS and has a published length of 5,995 feet. Runway 09R/27L is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 4,302 feet. The field elevation is 7 feet, and its reference point lies at 25.9074 N, 80.2782 W.
Radio services include an ATIS on 125.9 MHz, clearance delivery on 119.2 MHz, ground control on 121.9 MHz, and a common tower/CTAF frequency of 120.7 MHz. Miami Approach/Departure works arriving and departing traffic on 128.6 MHz, and a miscellaneous frequency of 123.1 MHz is associated with the Coast Guard Miami Air unit based on the field. Runway 12 is served by an ILS, supporting instrument approaches into the airport.
Published traffic pattern altitudes call for VFR arrivals to enter the airport traffic area below 2,000 feet, with heavy and jet aircraft flying a 1,500-foot pattern, fixed-wing aircraft a 1,000-foot pattern, and helicopters operating at 500 feet. Dual traffic patterns are in use for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft on runway 9R/27L, and compliance with the published patterns is mandatory, with helicopters required to avoid flying over parked or taxiing aircraft. The airport is noise-sensitive, and turbine and large aircraft operators are asked to fly NBAA-recommended noise abatement profiles, avoiding abrupt power changes directly over residential areas. Flight training is restricted to aircraft below 40,000 pounds gross weight and limited to the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The FAA-contract control tower operates from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time.
There are no formally published VRPs in the available material, but pilots orienting toward the field can use Miami International Airport a short distance to the south and North Perry Airport a few miles to the north as reference points, along with Hard Rock Stadium, which lies close to the airport and is often used as a local landmark.
The airfield's origins lie with aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss, who founded the city of Opa-locka in the mid-1920s and relocated his Florida Aviation Camp to a site west of the town in 1925. After Curtiss's death in 1930, the land passed to the City of Miami and was leased to the United States Navy, becoming a Naval Reserve Aviation Training Base and later the active Naval Air Station Miami. During the Second World War the station was a major training hub, home to fighter, dive-bombing and torpedo-bombing instruction using types such as the Brewster F2A Buffalo, Douglas SBD Dauntless, Grumman TBF Avenger and Grumman F4F Wildcat, and at its wartime peak in 1945 supported over 7,000 officers and men. Amelia Earhart departed on her ill-fated round-the-world flight attempt in 1937 from the former Miami Municipal Airport near the present airport's main entrance, and the Navy airship Akron crashed in a thunderstorm in 1933 after leaving the base on a return flight north. The station later became Marine Corps Air Station Miami in 1952, home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing until 1955, before closing as a Department of the Navy installation in 1959; much of the land subsequently passed to Dade County, with Dade County Junior College opening on part of the site in 1961. During the Cold War the airfield was linked to covert Cold War operations including the so-called Black Flights to Guatemala, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it also served as Miami Naval Air Station and Miami Marine Corps Air Station during the Korean War. The deed transferring the airport to Miami-Dade County was signed in early 1962, and by 1967 Opa-locka was, by some measures, the world's busiest airport with over 650,000 flight operations in a year. The airport was renamed Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in 2014 as part of a wider rebranding of Miami-area airports.
KOPF today functions as a general aviation reliever for Miami International Airport, handling business aviation, light cargo traffic to the Caribbean and large-aircraft maintenance work, alongside flight training and Coast Guard operations. Coast Guard Air Station Miami remains based on the field, flying HC-144 Ocean Sentry turboprops and MH-65 Dolphin helicopters on coastal patrol and air-sea rescue duties. The field is served by multiple fixed-base operators offering both 100 low-lead and Jet-A fuel, along with airframe, powerplant and avionics repair services. A US Customs facility on the airfield supports international arrivals, though prior notification and, where relevant, prior permission are required for such flights. The FAA-contract control tower operates from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time, and flight training is restricted to aircraft under 40,000 pounds and to daytime hours between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.