Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Benjamín Rivera Noriega Airport (TJCP/CPX) is the sole airfield serving the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico, lying just off the main island's east coast in the Spanish Virgin Islands. It offers a single short runway hemmed in by high ground, making it a useful and demanding stepping stone for pilots practising island-hopping approaches in the eastern Caribbean.
Benjamín Rivera Noriega Airport is a small public-use aerodrome on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico, owned and administered by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. Despite its modest size it supports scheduled passenger service by small propeller commuter aircraft linking Culebra with the Puerto Rican mainland and with Vieques, making it a genuine working airfield rather than a purely recreational strip. For the simulator pilot it is notable chiefly for its short single runway and the high ground close to one threshold, which together demand careful approach planning and reward a well-flown visual arrival.
The airport sits on the island of Culebra, part of the Spanish Virgin Islands group off the eastern end of Puerto Rico. It lies within Puerto Rican airspace in the San Juan area, with the St Thomas VOR/DME (STT) located about 16.1 nautical miles to the east and the Roosevelt Roads TACAN (NRR) about 19.9 nautical miles to the west-southwest, both useful for en-route navigation to and from the island.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 13/31, 2,600 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS approach available, and the short length of the strip restricts operations to propeller aircraft.
No communications frequencies are published for the airport, so pilots should expect to operate on a self-announce or unattended basis, treating the field as uncontrolled for radio purposes. For navigation, the St Thomas VOR/DME (STT) lies roughly 16.1 nautical miles east of the field and the Roosevelt Roads TACAN (NRR) roughly 19.9 nautical miles west-southwest, both of which can assist with positioning en route to Culebra.
There are no published circuit heights or joining instructions for the airfield, but pilots should be aware that a mountain rises to within less than 1,000 feet of the north end of the runway. This obstacle, combined with the runway's short length, keeps larger and jet aircraft away and makes a careful, well-judged visual approach essential; the field is often cited as good practice for pilots preparing to fly into similarly constrained island airports such as Saint Barthélemy.
The most significant visual feature for arriving pilots is the high ground close to the northern end of runway 13/31, which dominates the approach from that side and must be given a wide berth. Beyond this, the small scale of Culebra island itself, surrounded by open sea, makes the airfield and its single strip straightforward to identify visually once the island is in sight.
The airfield was originally built as a military airport by the United States Marine Corps, opening in 1957. In 1965 the government of Puerto Rico began flying civilians from San Juan to the island under a legislative compensation scheme. Following the Navy-Culebra protests, the Puerto Rico Ports Authority took over administration of civilian flight operations, opening the island's first passenger terminal on 24 October 1976; the airport and its surrounding 80 acres were formally transferred to the Ports Authority in 1980. A new passenger terminal opened in 1994, at which point the airport was renamed Benjamín Rivera Noriega in honour of a pilot from Ciales who became a recognised community leader for his service to the residents of Culebra.
The airport today covers a small site of about 15 acres and continues to handle scheduled passenger flights by small commuter operators using propeller aircraft with ten seats or fewer, connecting Culebra with destinations including San Juan, Ceiba and Vieques. The short runway and the nearby high ground continue to restrict operations to light aircraft, and there is no jet traffic.