Friday, January 30, 2009

South Wind Approach


When the winds blow from the south and west, they are called Kona Winds, and it forces HNL to reverse their arrival and departure patterns. Arriving flights get to fly a mile off of the southern coast of O‘ahu, which includes Waikiki Beach. This Japan Airlines 747 flight arriving from Japan is making its turn to land on the "Reef Runway" (Runway 26L), which is behind the buildings. The 747 above, appears closer to the buildings than it really was.

In all the flights I have flown in or out of HNL, there was only one time so far, where the flight I was on landed in a south wind approach on Runway 26L. It's a lot better to look at the south coast view at a lower altitude and slower speed.

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