Rentals in Hawaii?

Will be staying in Maui for 10 days starting Saturday. Would like to
find a rental Archer to use for sightseeing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nathan

First, I'll register my interest in this as well... we're heading to Maui in
September for a week, then the big island for another week. I'm interested
in a Cessna tho.

Second, I'll highly recommend Stewart Ishimoru, at Eveland Aero, Honolulu
Int'l. I know it's not Maui, but I feel I need to give him a nod just the
same.

When my wife and I went on our honeymoon a year and a half ago, we took a
1.5 hour flight with Stewart. I had just earned my PPL, and wanted to fly
around the island, but didn't want to get checked out to do it solo... one
flight was enough for that particular trip. Stewart guided me around HNL,
and I handled the controls for about half the flight... whenever I wanted to
take a picture, he gladly took the controls for a few minutes, then let me
take them back. It was a great experience to see all of Oahu from above! At
the end of the flight, Stewart commented that I must have had a great
instructor, because my flying was excellent! I was very pleased to hear that
(as was my instructor when I told him after we returned).

An ironic note about the flight... if we had just gone to a place to go on
an island tour, it would have cost about double what we paid! So my advice
to people who want to take an aerial tour in Hawaii now is... take an
introductory flight lesson instead... it's cheaper! :-)

--
Guy Elden Jr.


"Nathan Young" wrote in message
...
Will be staying in Maui for 10 days starting Saturday. Would like to
find a rental Archer to use for sightseeing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nathan

I can't tell you anything for Maui but I rentetd a Cessna 172 out of
Kona on the Big Island this January. I used "Above It ALL - Hawaii
Flight Academy": http://www.fly-hawaii.com/
Older C172 or Piper Warrior II: $104/h
1998 C 172: $114/h
All prices are for wet rental.

They also rent a Piper Twin Comanche and a Cessna 207, the latter only dual.

They are sure acommodating tourist, as everyone else on Hawaii is doing.
But the made a professional impression. They state to make a lengthy and
thourough checkout. It was nothing extraordinary, the usual stalls and
some landings. Special emphasis was put on emergency procedures - Lava
(even cold one ;-) ) is a bad place to land on.
They have a minimum rental term (4h) if landing on another airport is
anticipated. Otherwise there are no minimums - but reservations are made
in two our timeslots (you pay less when returning earlier).

I rented one of the older C172. They are also used for airtours under
FAR 135. I planned to circle the island which should take about 1 1/2
hours or so. I never managed it because starting from the Volcano
National Park it became solid IFR - so no hot lava. But the trip itself
was fun of course. Kona is typicaly VFR and Hilo is typically IFR.

On a second trip I flew along the Waipio coastline. This part is very
scenic but also very crouded by air-tours (both small planes and
helicopters). Thus one should report position regularily. And then,
living in the US "highlands", I "had" to fly to Mauna Kea . So I
climed from sealevel to about 13000ft - took me a while with the C172.
Well, I had some help by an updraft. But it was fun.

So enjoy Hawaii
Chris
New Mexico
PP-ASEL
Glider Pilot

Guy Elden Jr. wrote:
First, I'll register my interest in this as well... we're heading to Maui in
September for a week, then the big island for another week. I'm interested
in a Cessna tho.

Second, I'll highly recommend Stewart Ishimoru, at Eveland Aero, Honolulu
Int'l. I know it's not Maui, but I feel I need to give him a nod just the
same.

When my wife and I went on our honeymoon a year and a half ago, we took a
1.5 hour flight with Stewart. I had just earned my PPL, and wanted to fly
around the island, but didn't want to get checked out to do it solo... one
flight was enough for that particular trip. Stewart guided me around HNL,
and I handled the controls for about half the flight... whenever I wanted to
take a picture, he gladly took the controls for a few minutes, then let me
take them back. It was a great experience to see all of Oahu from above! At
the end of the flight, Stewart commented that I must have had a great
instructor, because my flying was excellent! I was very pleased to hear that
(as was my instructor when I told him after we returned).

An ironic note about the flight... if we had just gone to a place to go on
an island tour, it would have cost about double what we paid! So my advice
to people who want to take an aerial tour in Hawaii now is... take an
introductory flight lesson instead... it's cheaper! :-)

--
Guy Elden Jr.


"Nathan Young" wrote in message
...

Will be staying in Maui for 10 days starting Saturday. Would like to
find a rental Archer to use for sightseeing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nathan

You can see the same sight off the coast of California, though ours are
greys rather than humpbacks. A favorite winter/spring activity.


Not sure if this is a good time for it, but whale watching is fantastic from
2000 ft. The water is so clear that you can see a whale 100 ft underwater.

Nathan Young wrote:

Will be staying in Maui for 10 days starting Saturday. Would like to
find a rental Archer to use for sightseeing.

I think the answer is http://www.mauiaviators.com .

I was in Maui back in March and went up in their '76 Archer, flying
around Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. The scenery was stunning, and the
flight was the highlight of the trip for me.

I was a 15-hour'ish student at the time, and so went up with an
instructor (Craig). I flew the plane the entire time, with the
instructor navigating (by pointing out the window and saying "head over
there") and working the radios. He also served as a low-key tour guide,
pointing out interesting stuff and providing some info, so it might not
be a bad idea to go up with an instructor even with the certificate, as
the trip is really more about the sight-seeing than about the flying.
-harry

"Harry M." wrote in message
...

I was a 15-hour'ish student at the time, and so went up with an
instructor (Craig). I flew the plane the entire time, with the
instructor navigating (by pointing out the window and saying "head over
there") and working the radios. He also served as a low-key tour guide,
pointing out interesting stuff and providing some info, so it might not
be a bad idea to go up with an instructor even with the certificate, as
the trip is really more about the sight-seeing than about the flying.

Hope Craig has his 135 certificate ;-)

Nathan Young wrote in message . ..
Will be staying in Maui for 10 days starting Saturday. Would like to
find a rental Archer to use for sightseeing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nathan

When I was on the Big Island in the fall my wife and I rented a C-172
from Island Hoppers and toured the entire island. We left Kona and
headed south along the coast. Flew over south point and then up to the
Volcano's National Park. Got to fly over the Puu OO vent and see lava
up-close. Next we headed over to Hilo and up the coast towards the
north side of the island. Clouds were starting to build on the Hilo
side of the island (10am) but we were still VFR. Kona was severe clear
VFR.

I think the entire flight lasted about 2.5 hours and cost ~$350. This
included the instructor since I didn't want to waste time getting
checked out and learning how to pronounce the names of some of the
reporting points. Compared to a 45 minute helicopter flight that cost
about $500 it's a great deal. Plus you get to log the flight time.

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 16:31:24 GMT, "Tony Cox" wrote:

"Harry M." wrote in message
...

I was a 15-hour'ish student at the time, and so went up with an
instructor (Craig). I flew the plane the entire time, with the
instructor navigating (by pointing out the window and saying "head over
there") and working the radios. He also served as a low-key tour guide,
pointing out interesting stuff and providing some info, so it might not
be a bad idea to go up with an instructor even with the certificate, as
the trip is really more about the sight-seeing than about the flying.

Hope Craig has his 135 certificate ;-)

Not to derail the thread or anything, but I would consider this flight
to be instructional and not a "scenic tour", particularly since the
poster was a student. I'm not aware of any distance restriction for
instructional flight...

Dave Blevins

I also rented from http://www.mauiaviators.com. this past November. I
rented a C152 Aerobat (no I did not do any spins) and spent about 20 minutes
checkout just touch and go's at Kahului airport. Their recommended flying
route takes you around three islands; Maui, Molokai and Lanai. You can get
an accumulation of clouds on the north sides of the islands, particularly
where there are mountains or cliffs, with a ceiling of about 2000 ft. in
places.

I will post a few photos later today: http://newapt.tripod.com/Maui

Their recommended flying route consists of:

- leave Kahului airport (OGG) head west along the northern coast of Maui

- head over the water to the eastern tip of Molokai

- fly along the north coast of Molokai (spectacular steep cliffs)

- past Kahiu point (old Leper colony) and airstrip LUP

- turn south over the main airport on Molokai (MKK). Lots of little farms;
Molokai is very rural.

- south over the water (shallow coral reefs, great diving area)

- east along north coast of Lanai (aerial view of two shipwrecks; these
wecks are actually notated on the aeronautical chart as landmarks)

- east across the water back to Maui (Lahaina area). In the winter you can
see whales from the plane

- east along the south coast of Maui. Fly past Molokini Island, crescent
shaped outcropping of rock in the ocean (rim of an old volcano) also a
popular diving spot.

- north along the west coast of Maui. Nobody is there - steep mountains
backside of Haleakala volcano

- past Hana -- there is a nice airstrip here and looks like an inviting
place to land (but it is not within walking distance of town)

-west along the north coast of Maui; this is the road to Hana, a great drive
for the next day.

-back to Kahului airport.The airport is somewhat busy with jet traffic and
always windy. But very long runways.


-Marc

I just did a sightseeing flight in a 172 with Ian McKelvey at the Kahului
airport on 03 April.

Good bunch, ratty (but sound) older aircraft. It was not really worth the
effort and cost of getting checked out then renting, so I just went for the
sightseeing flight with Ian in the right seat being PIC and guide. It was
really fun. Whales, leper colony, shipwrecks, Ian's sailboat ("See? Right
down there..."), a great afternoon.

Go see their website, they have been written up in all the major mags in the
recent past.

http://www.mauiaviators.com/

Duane
++++++++++++++
Duane MacInnis PE
Flight Instructor
Cell (604) 454-7415
www.macinnisaviation.com

78 Grumman Cheetah C-GVJF #0660
"He who laughs at himself,
never suffers from lack of amusement..."


"Nathan Young" wrote in message
...
Will be staying in Maui for 10 days starting Saturday. Would like to
find a rental Archer to use for sightseeing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nathan