FAA to review flight rules after jet's Waikiki fly-by
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
The Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to review rules for commercial flights over Honolulu after a 747 jumbo jet passed frighteningly close to Waikiki high-rises Saturday, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye's office said yesterday.
"We've asked them to review their protocols and, if warranted, take some action," said Jennifer Sabas, a spokeswoman for Inouye. "They said they're looking at it and will consider changes if necessary."
The China Airlines plane startled and terrified residents just after dawn Saturday when it passed over land, and, by witnesses' accounts, took a course over Kapi'olani Park, down the Ala Wai canal corridor and near downtown high-rises. It landed to the southwest on the Reef Runway at Honolulu International Airport.
Many Honolulu residents said the plane seemed to be flying dangerously low. The FAA said yesterday that it is reviewing data to determine whether the pilot violated any rules.
Aviation officials said the plane's flight path was unusual, but it did not necessarily violate FAA regulations by going over land. The state's master plan for Honolulu International Airport says that commercial planes should not be directed over a noise abatement area, which includes Waikiki, but flight controllers frequently allow planes to make such an approach for landing, particularly in Kona wind conditions, which prevail about 15 percent of the time.
"We had a lot of calls from worried people, but there really isn't much we can do," said Marilyn Kali, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. "The FAA sets the flight patterns, and we don't have any say at all. We're just lucky it didn't hit anything."
Winds on Saturday were coming from the east, averaging almost 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The recommended landing at the airport in such winds calls for planes to approach from the south over the ocean, then make a 45-degree turn toward runway 26-L on the Reef Runway when they are two to three miles away. It is not out of the ordinary, however, for some pilots to make a gentler, wider turn that brings them over Waikiki or Kalihi.
"There are any number of factors — winds, weight, fuel or a pilot's experience — that might make it acceptable for a plane to make such an approach," said John Carroll, a former Hawaiian Airlines pilot. "Especially if you're not familiar with the regular recommended path, you may want to take a more cautious approach that brings you over land."
FAA investigators from Honolulu yesterday began reviewing data that includes radar readings, communications with the airport control tower, and the plane's speed and altitude, said FAA spokeswoman Tweet Coleman.
The plane's pilot and co-pilot returned home to Taipei yesterday without being interviewed by FAA investigators, according to James Tsaur, the airline's sales manager in Honolulu. Earlier, airline officials said the pilot reported being at at least 1,300 feet when the plane passed over land, a height that would not violate FAA regulations.
Many longtime Waikiki residents familiar with planes flying over their homes said the plane's path and altitude were unusual.
"It put the fear of God into me," said Betty Rodriguez, a former flight attendant who lives in Pu'ulei Circle, just mauka of Kapi'olani Park. "I've lived here 22 years and heard a lot of planes flying over Waikiki, but never like this before."
Rodriguez said she was lying in bed Saturday morning when the roar of the plane shook her awake, rattled her louvers, and sent her cats into hiding.
"My first thought was a plane in trouble, and I'm praying, 'Pull up! Pull up!' " she said. "Then I started thinking about terrorists crashing a plane into a hotel, and I was too scared to get up and look."
Jim Small, a visitor from Vancouver, Canada, staying on the ninth floor of the Queen Kapi'olani Hotel on Kapahulu Avenue, said the plane appeared to pass about 300 or 400 feet above the building.
"It was like being at the end of a runway and watching planes land," he said.
Michelle Matson, a member of Residents Against Aircraft Noise, said the group has documented more than 100 complaints of commercial widebody planes flying over Honolulu in the past few years, but that the China Airlines flight was "particularly low and in-close."
She said commercial flights are supposed to remain two miles offshore, but many choose to come inland to save time and money on their final approach to Honolulu.
"With the history of aircraft failures, there's really no reason for them to fly over land at all," she said. "We would like to see them banned from the urban area altogether."
Coleman said yesterday that the pilot of the China Airlines jet was on visual approach and therefore allowed to set his own course rather than follow the dictates of an instrument landing.
Because of Hawai'i's usually clear weather, visual approaches are quite common here, she said.
Despite residents' worries that the plane could have been headed to Waikiki for a possible terrorist attack, National Guard officials said they were not notified in time to respond.
"There never was an imminent danger, so we were never alerted to send our planes up," said Steven Lum, a National Guard spokesman.
The issue of noise from low-flying commercial planes and helicopters has long been a sore spot for some Honolulu residents. Matson said Residents Against Aircraft Noise has met in the past year with the FAA and local members of Congress asking to keep commercial planes offshore.
"We've been feverishly trying to get the FAA to take action on this, but they won't take us seriously," Matson said.
Airport officials said yesterday that they hope to have a $1 million network of 15 noise monitors in place throughout Honolulu by this summer. The monitors will be used to evaluate the validity of resident complaints about aircraft noise.
"Our airport noise has been significantly reduced since the 1990s," said Ben Schlapak, acting airport manager in Honolulu and the state's master planner for the airports. Newer planes, fewer landings and a new general aviation airport at Kalaeloa have helped reduce noise complaints, he said.
Had the monitors been in place already, they might have been able to help with the investigation of the China Airlines incident. The monitors can be used to specify the type or location of an plane responsible for a specific complaint, he said.
Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.
