FAA to protect Koko Head cable

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

A telephone cable intended to alert the Federal Aviation Administration when its main O'ahu navigational signal is not working properly has been sitting atop Koko Head, exposed to the weather.

It has been this way since 1992 because of an apparent oversight, but the FAA now has the $25,000 necessary to bury the 100 feet of cable and plans to do so pending state approval.

The cable is connected to a microwave system that provides the main navigational signal for incoming aircraft, said Jerry Snyder, FAA public affairs officer for the Western Pacific Region, which includes Hawai'i.

There has never been a breakdown in either the telephone cable or the high-frequency microwave, Snyder said.

The phone line sends a signal to a hut on Koko Head and is routinely checked by FAA maintenance workers.

"It's important that we monitor all our equipment," Snyder said.

The high-frequency microwave signal is used by aircraft from the Mainland and Neighbor Islands to guide their approach as they near the airport.

The Koko Head cable was supposed to have been buried in a 2-foot-wide, 3-foot-deep trench, but never was, probably because of a lack of money, Snyder said. Such lines at other FAA facilities are usually buried, Snyder said.

The project is a minor one, according to John Nakagawa, a planner with the Office of State Planning.

The office must review the federal agency's plans and issue an administrative review before Aug. 19. If the office gives the nod, the FAA is then free to begin the work, he said.

The cable's position atop the mountain is fairly unobtrusive, said Charlie Rodgers, chairman of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board.

"Those things on top of Koko Head, they're not really seen," Rodgers said. "If you ask 20 people on the street, maybe one in 20 would ever have seen them. Antennas and cables are a part of life."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.