FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Consolidated "Which side of the plane to sit inter-island or to/from the mainland"
Old Feb 4, 2009, 9:08 am
  #54  
JDiver
Moderator: American AAdvantage
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
PIPO (port in, port out,) has worked for trade winds, but I have also had good views SIPO. SIPO works on a long approach with a northerly downwind leg, turning way out past Wheeler and coming in over Pearl Harbor; PO works well departing and seeing Honolulu and Waikiki off the left.

Often you can see Maui to port on arrival as well, if it's clear and the Big Island vog isn't adding a bit of haze.

For a really great flight experience, take the Island Seaplane Service tour from the HNL-close seaplane base. Good pilots (Alaska trained) and well-maintained aircraft (I've been a licensed pilot, so I am picky,) and we did an awesome tour around the island anti-clockwise and back to base using the same route the Japanese pilots took during the Pearl Harbor attack. Great scenery, decent altitudes so you can see the island, and history in your pocket.
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