My Flying Blog/Recent Adventures: Pearl Harbor 70th Anniversary Memorial/Flying Around the Islands

Honolulu Tower

Where I hope to be working within the next year or two.

At a radar scope in Honolulu Center

The brown sign under the speed limit reads "DANGER EXPLOSIVE AREA NO STOPPING"

Barracks at Hickam Field. Notice the bullet holes still in the wall from the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

Lifting off from Honolulu International Airport, 6 DEC 2011.

Waikiki Beach, Downtown Honolulu

Pearl Harbor, 6 DEC 2011

Pearl Harbor, 6 DEC 2011. This gave me such an eerie feeling flying over Pearl on the eve of the 70th anniversary knowing this is the same view Japanese pilots saw coming in 70 years earlier.

Ford Island

"Mighty Mo" Battleship USS Missouri, where the Japanese surrendered in 1945, formally ending WWII.

Honolulu Tower. On a left base for Runway 4 Left.

On the way up to Punchbowl Crater-National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, 7 DEC 2011.

7 DEC 2011

Any "Unknown" service member buried at Punchbowl had a white wreath placed on the gravestone. This is important in the next photo.

This was just ONE small section... just to put things in perspective.

The first service member interred there, 70 years to the day.

There are 10 of these white marble walls. Each wall contains the names of thousands of service men & women missing in action.

The Naval officer standing in the center of the picture is the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.

Downtown Honolulu from Punchbowl Crater

Punchbowl Crater

USS Arizona Memorial & the USS Missouri

USS Missouri

At the Funeral Service, 7 DEC 2011.

The final procession, 7 DEC 2011.

Oil still leaks from the ship, even after 70 years.

Sun setting at Pearl, 7 DEC 2011.

Gotta ride in style...

...Ok, this is a little more realistic for my budget.

Hawaiian Airlines' VERY FIRST airplane EVER... and it's still flying. It's a "1929 Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker." Here's a link to the story of it: http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2011/may/feature_bellanca.html

Taking off from Honolulu, Runway 4 Right, 8 DEC 2011.

Diamond Head Crater off in the distance

The Aloha Tower located at the end of the peninsula.

Downtown Honolulu/Waikiki Beach

Diamond Head Crater

Koko Head Crater

Hanauma Bay in Koko Head Crater

Hanauma Bay

Molokai in the distance

Approaching the shores of Molokai

Final Approach to Runway 5 at Molokai

A view of the vast Pacific

Lanai in-sight

Lanai

Beginning the descent into Lanai Airport.

I had some strong winds on that approach ;)

This guy was bored waiting for his clearance, so we were shooting the breeze for a while when I was coming in for landing.

Lanai Airport

Parked at Lanai Airport

Taking off from Runway 3 at Lanai

Kaho'olawe

Mount Haleakala, Maui

Molokini Atoll, located about 3 miles south of Maui. Known to be one of the best diving spots in the world.

The town of Makena in the foreground, and Mount Haleakala in the background

On Approach into Maui

Final Approach Runway 2 at Kahului (Maui) Airport

Kahului, Maui

Kahului (Maui) Tower

Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 Landing at Maui

Right after takeoff from Maui

Near Nakalele Point, Maui

Nakalele Point

Pulling back power about 2 minutes after departure. Still had a great groundspeed.

Sea Cave

Molokai on the horizon

Molokai

The famous 2000' Molokai Sea Cliffs

Notice the waterfall on the left

Kalaupapa, Molokai

Kalaupapa, the former leper colony on Molokai

Kalaupapa

Approaching Oahu's east shore

The valley on Oahu where Jurassic Park & Lost were filmed. Many movies & TV series were filmed here.

Kuhuku Point, the northernmost point on Oahu

Kuhuku Point

Turtle Bay Resort, North Shore

Believe it or not, those waves down there were 30' swells according to the newspaper (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 9 DEC 2011) the next morning. You can't even tell from the air.

Oahu's North Shore

Wheeler Field, another heavily attacked site on 7 DEC 1941.

Wheeler Field, Oahu

Ford Island, where Amelia Earhart crashed her plane on takeoff on her first around-the-world record attempt. USS Arizona Memorial & USS Missouri off to the right.