Thomas on Islands | profile | all galleries >> == Flying Hawaii == >> Flight Maui - Molokai 7.Jan.1999 | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
This was my first flight on Hawaii. I chartered a Cherokee Archer from
Maui Aviators, operating on the Kahului Airport. I received my checkout
from Jon Muralt, owner of the company.
The prevailing weather condition was "vog", a volcanic fog carried by the wind from the big island of Hawaii. The visibility was partly very impacted by the mix of the volcanic ash and a fog. As soon the coast was out of sight, the transition between Ocean and the sky was almost invisible, what constitutes a perfectly simulated instrument filght conditions. This caused serious orientation problems to many tourist-pilots visiting Hawaii. I was well advised to continue the entire flight with Jon, the more that he is a very good story teller. We took off toward North-East and flew along Maui in clockwise direction. In the first phase of the flight we landed several times in Hana and I was busy with proving my piloting skills. I grabbed the camera on the other side of the Island, close to Molokini. From there we flew along the entire Maui west side, over Lahaina to Lipoa Point. From there I made my mandatory channel crossing to Molokai. On the north side of Molokai we flew in marginal visual conditions and have landed in Kalaupapa, the former leper colony. |
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