Consolidated "Which side of the plane to sit inter-island or to/from the mainland"
 

For a flight Oakland to Kona and return, which side of the plane should we sit on for the best views arriving and departing (is there a usual approach/departure pattern for KOA? Travel will be the end of July)

To see the Big Island or Maui? All we saw of BI was a moonscape of lava flow.

Sit on the right side to see Maui.

Sit on the left going from OAK to KOA and the right on the return.

All flights I've been on to KOA (3) have curved around the north end of the big island to land at KOA on the West coast.

Which side should you sit on for flights from/to HNL<->KOA?

If I remember correctly, if you sit on the right side KOA-HNL you will view Maui and possibly Waikiki (depending upon landing strip in HNL.)

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Any suggestions on which side of the plane to sit on Lax -> Ogg?

Not sure that it matters a whole lot - the OGG airport is on the northeast side of the island so there's not a lot to see before you land.

For OGG sit on the port side for a 5-6 min view of West Maui prior to landing. If you are on the starboard side you will get a 2-4 min view of the South Maui coast. If you miss it, you will get 100X more of the Maui views by driving to your hotel. The previous is true for 98+% of the flights as they land to the north.

MisterNice

Well, I would certainly defer to the advice of MisterNice. But I swear that I landed at OGG from the north - maybe I'm just forgetful. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif

[This message has been edited by cactuspete (edited Jan 20, 2004).]

The predominant landing pattern for OGG is approaching Kahului from the south. West Maui and Maalaea will be on your left, Haleakala will be on your right. This course heads directly into the trade winds. If it is blowing Kona, I would suppose they could do a north approach.

Like Fly'nHawn said, if there is a Kona-winds approach, flights to OGG might approach from the North and I have seen that take-off/landing pattern before but the greater majority of landings/take-offs are trade wind take-offs which is as described as above.

aloha

edited to add "wind" to Kona for clarity

[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited Jan 22, 2004).]

It doesn't matter because the flight pattern or path changes daily based on wind/weather condition.

For instance, if it is windy, the plane will take off from south side of the runaway and the plane will land on the south side of the runaway.

Do I make sense?

I live in Kona. Ask me any questions and I'd be more than happy to help or answer your question(s)....

I don't know about the KOA tower, but OGG and HNL towers are infamous for their laziness in changing the approach paths and often don't change them until absolutely necessary.

That's a big laugh.

Actually they will start to change the landing direction at OGG if the wind even "hints" is going to change from the normal northly direction to the southly direction (eg the main runway is only 7000 ft in length).

MisterNice