Pine And Sky

One of the many long-needled pine trees that line the rural beaches of O‘ahu against the clear blue sky.

Tiny Flowers

I came across these really tiny flowers that measured about a quarter-inch across.

Lone Fisherman

This fisherman found solitude among the many others by moving several yards away from the rest of the pack.

Kaka‘ako Promenade

Dusk at Kaka‘ako Waterfornt Park's promenade.

Footprints In Sand

A shot of Kathy and her footprints she left in the soft sand of Kalaeloa Beach.

Euphorbia

Orbs of water rest on the petals of these Euphorbia flowers.

Back Flip

A freestyle motocross rider performs a back flip in a demonstration that was part of a promotional event for Boost Mobile at Aloha Stadium.

Crashing Wave

A four-foot wave crashes at Magic Island Park.

After A Long Flight ...

Northwest Airlines Flight 22 lands at HNL after a eight-hour long flight from Narita International Airport (Tokyo, Japan).

The motion blur was created with Photoshop.

Preparing For Departure

This American Airlines Boeing 757-200W prepares to leave for San Francisco, CA, as Flight 39 from HNL's Gate 18. It looks like they might have a few late bags to load, with the conveyer belt nearby.

I took this shot while being escorted by airport personnel to get a gateside photo of the first Alaska Airlines flight between Seattle and Honolulu. I guess I could not escape the side-view mirror ...

777 Sunset

This United Airlines Boeing 777-200 takes off at sunset, bound for O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, IL).

Open Wide!

The nose cargo door of the gigantic Lockheed C-5A "Galaxy" opens wide with the cargo loading ramp extended. The ramp looks like a tongue swallowing up those checking out the interior of the largest American-built aircraft. It belongs to the US Air Force Reserve's 337th Airlift Squadron "Patriots" based at Westover Joint Air Reserve Base, MA. On the tail band, they have the helmet logo of the New England Patriots football team.

Today's photo was taken during the 2007 Blues On The Bay airshow, and in the background, an aerobatic aircraft performs its stunts.

Moving On

A couple of years ago, Delta Airlines began phasing out their McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 airliners from their fleet. Upon retirement, most of the time, these aircraft are relegated to the desert storage fields of California and Arizona. However, these MD-11s are finding new life as freighters for UPS and FedEx, as is the case with N805DE (above). Before it moved on to FedEx, the Delta titles and tail markings were painted over, which left a remnant of its previous life. N805DE stopped off at HNL on its way to Singapore to undergo conversion from a passenger carrying airliner to becoming a freighter. After the freighter conversion, the aircraft received a new registration, N522FE.

Vintage Bird

A sepia tone photo of Kamaka Air's Douglas Super DC-3 as it prepares for an inter-island cargo flight. This aircraft is definitely a rarebird!

Bird Of Paradise

This month's theme week is aviation ... these photos have not appeared on the HNL Rarebirds blog ...

In 1992, Aloha Airlines brought back the bird of paradise logo as their corporate branding. These colors lasted until last week when the airline filed for bankruptcy, and ended their passenger services after almost 61 years of flying. Shown above is their bird of paradise logo painted on an Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglet used on their Boeing 737-700s.

Aloha was my airline of choice when flying inter-island, especially when the company I worked for, used "AQ" for our neighbor island video assignments.

I also flew their west coast service, to/from Orange County, CA, in October 2004, and was the subject of my first full magazine article, a flight review published in "Airways" magazine in April 2006. I was also invited to be a part of media events over the past couple years covering events like the return of the "Funbird" ("Airliner World"), their 60th Birthday celebration ("Airways"), and the painting of N748AL by marine artist Wyland ("Airways"); all of which were also featured on my HNL RareBirds blog. Several of my Aloha photos also appeared in issues "Airliners" and "AIR International", as they requested photos for articles.

Today's photo is a tribute to all of the great folks that worked for Aloha, and to those folks I had the opportunity to meet while at the AQ events. My heartfelt prayers go out to all those affected by the closing of AQ.

Blue Light

Around an airfield, the blue lights represent taxiways. At night, the field becomes a sea of blue to keep pilots and their planes on the taxiways.

This blue light sits along the perimeter of the bayside ramp of the Marine Corp Air Field at Kane‘ohe Bay, taken before entering the 2007 Blues On The Bay airshow.

It's also a hint to what the theme week for April will be ...

At The Car Hop

This 1961 Corvette looks like it's at a car hop with the food tray attached to the driver's side door. It was on display as part of a classic car show.

Railing Reflections

This polished brass t-joint provides a wide-angle mirror of Kathy browsing through her magazines at a Barnes & Noble.

White Crowns

A depth-of-field shot of white crown flowers from Foster Botanical Gardens.

Giant Lake

A new lake was discovered on the west side of O‘ahu. The unnamed lake was found while developers were breaking ground on new housing developments.












Apirl Fool! It's actually a big tide pool on the shoreline fronting the Ihilani Resort.