Airport Delays

[TomK]

I'm sure if KOA had to shut down for a long time then Hilo would end up being used, but we're talking several days or weeks to have everything in place for that, not a few hours. In the meantime, if it's necessary, Hilo is available in case of an emergency but certainly isn't equipped to handle several diversions at the same time for non-emergency reasons.

[HiloJulie]

It will be interesting to see how the eventual runway replacement project, once under way, will affect operations at Kona and possibly Hilo.

While most work would be done at night and in sections, its sure to have some impact.

I guess we can be thankful it won't be as bad as they are predicting SFO to be!

SFO runway closure could cause delays for months (ktvu.com)

(A little nostalgia I found - a United 747 at the gate and a United DC10/L1011 coming in - at HILO!!)

   

[terracore]

Well, congratulations!

You all have convinced me that the Hilo Airport is just to "rinky-dinky" and "itsy-bitsy" to serve any purpose beyond what it currently is!

At any event, it can be here in the event of a dire emergency.

Remember TWA 235?

Interesting read.  Here's another:


https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news...the-skies/

[Obie]

I was going to correct something Terracore posted about ITO not being capable of supporting wide body ops.
The jetways and parking pads are all there and in operation.

Tom pointed out that ITO wasn't used because of all of the other equipment that's not available.

I was concentrating on just the ETOPS problems.
Multi engine airplanes aren't subject to ETOPS and a 747 could land and depart without any problems. A 777 would have to be ferried to a suitable airport or the personnel and equipment needed to serice it would have to be brought in.

On a side note I had friends on the United 777 that diverted to HNL. They had to get a hotel room in HNL and then had to buy a ticket on Hawaiian. Another friend who is a Hawaiian frequent flier helped them get a ticket and they flew into ITO and rented a car. They cancelled their rental car in Kona. The following day they had to drive to Kona to retrieve their bags that eventually ended up there.
3 days without a change of clothes and this was all on their dime.

The airlines aren't liable when a flight diverts because the only runway at the destination airport is closed because of damage.

FYI. If the longer runway were closed at ITO, Hawaiian could still operate their interisland flights because their 717's can takeoff from the shorter runway. Long haul flights would be out of luck and I'm pretty sure Southwest's 737's would be unable to use the shorter runway.

[TomK]

Interesting read.  Here's another:


https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news...the-skies/

I'm not sure how that's relevant to the thread. That was the infamous Aloha 737 convertible event. If Hilo had been quicker to get to they would have likely gone there; they were desperate to land as quickly as possible so they chose the nearest available airport.

[TomK]

The US president's 747s always managed to land in Hilo as did the Fedex MD-11s. That was a long time ago, but the runway is suitable, if maintained, to allow heavy planes to land there. This is from what I believe is a FedEx MD-11 flight into Hilo many years ago - I've always enjoyed the video and music.

https://youtu.be/NJfQahlwt7Y?si=g7vyrLcobOUisN39

[HiloJulie]

Don't forget that in addition to the 747 "Doomsday" Boeing EB-4 that would be stationed in Hilo when Barack was in Honolulu, we also had Sheikh Nasser bin Hamed Al Khalifa from Bahrain land at Hilo in his personal 747! (Imagine his parking fees!)

Boeing 747 ‘Al Sakhir’ Brings Royalty to Big Island : Big Island Now

And once during Barack's two terms, there were 2 of those Boeing 747 EB-4's at the Hilo Airport at the same time - only for a few hours. There was a "crew change" that had been previously scheduled, so the new crew flew in on one of the four EB-4's and the old crew flew out on the other EB-4 back to Offutt Air Force Base, the "home base" of these jets.

Also, and my apologies as this tidbit is not Hawaii related, but on the topic of the 747, did you know that the very first 747 commercial jet - a Pan Am flight from New York to London on January 22, 1970, was the very first 747 to be hijacked on August 2, 1970, en route between JFK and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was diverted to José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba and then was the same 747 of the two 747's that met their fate at Tenerife!

[TomK]

Lufthansa still flies their Queen of the Skies to LAX. I think it's the most beautiful airplane ever. Pam and I used airmiles to fly on a BA 747 1st class from Chicago to London, an experience I will never forget. Before then, I flew between London and Sydney in economy, not a lot of fun. 13 hours to Bangkok and 7 hours to Sydney. On the way back it was Sydney to Singapore and then London. I then had to head back north to play a cricket match in Nottingham and didn't do very well.

On the other hand, the 747 we flew out on was the plane that made the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney. We didn't do it on that flight, obviously, but there was a plaque at the back of the plane. It wasn't a passenger flight that made that flight so will need to look it up. I think they got up to 43 or 45,000 feet before descending.

[HiloJulie]

Why yes! The venerable Boeing 747!

My husband and I have been very fortunate to be able to fly the 747 numerous times - and even though we moved to Hilo in the late 1980's, we do travel back and forth to the mainland quite often for business affairs - and in the early days of living here - was almost always on a United 747 from HNL to either LAX, SFO or Chicago. They were still flying the spiral staircase models - up till around 2001 or so - then most of the remaining 747's after that for United were the "400" models with the straight staircase. (Never got to fly one with a lounge up there, just more First/Business class on the upper decks)

On November 7, 2017, United flew its last 747 from SFO to HNL - a "copy" of United's first 747 flight ever - back on July 23, 1970. My husband and I were "invited guests" thru United's Mileage Plus program - and it was quite an enjoyable flight!

A YouTube Channel known as VASAvaition made a neat video of the whole thing merging various clips of other people's/news agencies videos along with some animation and matched it with ATC audio.

The flight number was "United 747 (Heavy)"

Enjoy - and watch the spectacular "wing tip" to the Golden Gate Bridge!

[terracore]

I was lucky enough to fly on 747s before de-regulation. When people dressed up to travel and weren't treated like cattle. I was too young to fully appreciate it, but on the other hand being young the stewardess (they weren't called flight attendants back then) asked me if I wanted to go help fly the plane and led me to the cockpit where the pilot showed me around and pinned my jr pilot wings on me.

Of course, the downside to regulating the fares was that most people couldn't afford to travel.