Flying GA in Hawaii

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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Whose done it?

Sunday, I have a 172 reserved for 2 hours in PHJR (KALAEOLA airport in Honolulu)
Given a 2 hour window at 172 speeds is there any "must see" flight seeing considerations?

This is likely something I'll never do again and its hard to assess from google satellite imagery.
Any tips from those who've been would be greatly appreciated.

Thx.
 
I have to imagine the best person to ask would be the place you're renting from, or a local instructor/pilot
 
Jealous. I really hope to do that someday, but it will have to wait until we get all these kids out of the house.

What does a 172 rent for there?

AOPA did a story maybe a year ago, including a youtube video, although they were flying with an outfit that uses Cirri.
 
eman1200 said:
I have to imagine the best person to ask would be the place you're renting from, or a local instructor/pilot
Click to expand...
A CFI is coming with an he said "We can go wherever you want to go". So now I am looking at maps to see what is "Pretty"
 
This looks pretty cool and it is named after a cool metal band. They must be really popular out there.

diamond.jpg
 
ask about waterfalls, there are some nice ones out there. plus chicks dig waterfalls (I'm assuming your wife or girlfriend will be with u)
 
Whatever you do, don't ask "is it any different than in the United States?"

The locals hate that.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Wasn't he the blue donut AOA guy that used to be here?
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Yup, he's still pushing those too. Lol. The newer Cirrus with fiki have AOA built in, no blue donut though, at least not that I've found.

Edit: I'd check out his videos to get some ideas where to fly, there are some cool places there.
 
Socks

 
Fly the island perimeter counter-clockwise from Barber's Point and get away from Honolulu ASAP. Once you've seen Diamond Head and the Koko crater/blow hole, that's all the cool stuff on the South Shore.

Continuing around, check out the old air base and move inland a little to Kaneohe Bay and then cruise through the canyons along the coast all the way around to the North shore, then turn left after Waimea. Follow the Kamehameha highway until you see the last remaining pineapple plantation, then adjust right to avoid Wheeler AAF.

If you follow the road along the big mountains, you may be able to see the last remaining sugar cane field. It's tiny, so you might not see it...

That will lead you back to Barber's Point and your starting point.

That's sort of where the helicopter tours go and it should take less than two hours, easy. I don't think they want you flying along the West coast because of all the expensive homes and tourist traps and there is not much exciting there anyway, IMHO.

Personally, I can't stand Hawaii. The traffic sucks and the homeless have taken over Waikiki. They should give it back to the natives...
 
IK04 said:
Fly the island perimeter counter-clockwise from Barber's Point and get away from Honolulu ASAP. Once you've seen Diamond Head and the Koko crater/blow hole, that's all the cool stuff on the South Shore.

Continuing around, check out the old air base and move inland a little to Kaneohe Bay and then cruise through the canyons along the coast all the way around to the North shore, then turn left after Waimea. Follow the Kamehameha highway until you see the last remaining pineapple plantation, then adjust right to avoid Wheeler AAF.

If you follow the road along the big mountains, you may be able to see the last remaining sugar cane field. It's tiny, so you might not see it...

That will lead you back to Barber's Point and your starting point.

That's sort of where the helicopter tours go and it should take less than two hours, easy. I don't think they want you flying along the West coast because of all the expensive homes and tourist traps and there is not much exciting there anyway, IMHO.

Personally, I can't stand Hawaii. The traffic sucks and the homeless have taken over Waikiki. They should give it back to the natives...
Click to expand...
Perfect!
Thank you
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Whose done it?

Sunday, I have a 172 reserved for 2 hours in PHJR (KALAEOLA airport in Honolulu)
Given a 2 hour window at 172 speeds is there any "must see" flight seeing considerations?

This is likely something I'll never do again and its hard to assess from google satellite imagery.
Any tips from those who've been would be greatly appreciated.

Thx.
Click to expand...

Get some Head

upload_2021-6-1_0-51-50.png
 
I did similar at Maui 5 years ago. If he lets you go that far, you can overfly Lindberg’s grave. There’s also Molokai, molotini, and Lanai, where you can say you landed on Larry Ellison’s island.

Two things surprised me. 1). They charged for headset rental. 2) they used “restaurant mode” on the credit card receipt so you could add a tip.

last, if you haven’t already, start reading read James Michener’s Hawaii to get a fuller appreciation of the geography, culture, and history.
 

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SixPapaCharlie said:
Whose done it?

Sunday, I have a 172 reserved for 2 hours in PHJR (KALAEOLA airport in Honolulu)
Given a 2 hour window at 172 speeds is there any "must see" flight seeing considerations?
Click to expand...

I didn't do a flight when I was out there, but I did previously plan one.

In 2 hours, pretty much all you can do is fly around Oahu, I was planning counter clockwise for my visibility. The time around the island is roughly an hour and you're going to spend time with preflight/clearance/taxi/takeoff. There's no time to add another island.

Kualoa Ranch on the eastern shore is where they filmed Jurassic Park. I think the mountains on the west side in Waianae are pretty cool too. Highest point is about 4100 ft. if you feel like learning something, ask the instructor what winds are going to do around the mountains.

Diamond Head is interesting, but keep in mind that it's under the 90/10 bravo shelf. If 26 is in use, the FAF (KUHIO) for most (all?) the approaches is just off diamond head with a crossing altitude of 2000'. Diamond Head itself is 761', so loitering in the area could be challenging. If 26 is not in use, you can always ask. All the missed approach hold points are south of the airport out in the ocean, so they should not be a factor. Also keep in mind that you're probably not going to take off 8/26, you'll probably get 4/22 and not heading this way. The best view of Diamond Head could be on the approach to 26.

Read the NOTAMs for Dillingham on the NW shore, acrobatics offshore at 1500' and above.

In general, I'd expect to see a lot of waterfalls, so I wouldn't plan on trying to find any single one.

I was planning on skipping the interior of the island because it's a big pineapple plantation and houses.
 
Buzz Waikiki beach.

That's my contribution. Carry on.
 
I drove around most of the Island in a few hours. Two hours in a plane and you can see it all!!!
There is only a few airports, do a T&G at each of them. Just to say you landed at all the airports
on Honolulu! Also, do you even know how to fly a high wing airplane?
 
Salty said:
Socks

Click to expand...

Missed that thread, I do remember the aoa posts though, for the most part I ignored them. I'll have to rethink my bucket list, hopefully Bryan has found a good alternative. Pireps please!
 
I liked the north shore, approach from the ocean towards Diamond Head, and especially flying the route that the Japanese Zeros flew when they attacked Pearl Harbor (it gave me goose bumps). If you can extend your flight time, flying to Molokai and visiting the north cliffs and waterfalls is incredible.
 
No experience with Oahu, But several years ago I rented from Maui aviators (https://www.mauiaviators.com/). Did one half hour flight with an instructor to get checked out and then a couple of 1.5 hour flights around the islands (It took two total flights for everyone in our group to get to fly). Circled Maui, Molokini, and Molokai. Saw lots of whales and beautiful scenery. Highly recommended to do something like this. I'd had my Viking for a few months prior to this and was used to landing at 90mph. Landing at 65mph in the 172, with a 30+ mph headwind component was interesting. I felt as though I could have gotton out of the plane, grabbed a bite to eat, gone to the restroom, and then back to the plane to finish the landing. Felt very slow. Fairly fun crosswind also. Maui is windy!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
No experience with Oahu, But several years ago I rented from Maui aviators (https://www.mauiaviators.com/). Did one half hour flight with an instructor to get checked out and then a couple of 1.5 hour flights around the islands (It took two total flights for everyone in our group to get to fly). Circled Maui, Molokini, and Molokai. Saw lots of whales and beautiful scenery. Highly recommended to do something like this. I'd had my Viking for a few months prior to this and was used to landing at 90mph. Landing at 65mph in the 172, with a 30+ mph headwind component was interesting. I felt as though I could have gotton out of the plane, grabbed a bite to eat, gone to the restroom, and then back to the plane to finish the landing. Felt very slow. Fairly fun crosswind also. Maui is windy!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
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