Maui Air - Volcano Air Tours

...eventually settled on flying with Maui Air who offer Volcano Air Tours out of Kahului airport on the island of Maui.

==Volcanoes National Park==

The Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park was established in 1916 and was designated as a World Heritage site in 1987. The park is 520 square miles wide and is home to a wide range of environments ranging from sea level to the summit of the world’s most massive volcano Mauna Loa. Climates ...
.../> Established in June 1993, Maui Air operates a fleet of three Piper PA-31 Chieftain aircraft. These 10 seat aircraft are air-conditioned and Maui Air is the only operator on Maui authorized to fly over the Volcanoes Park. Daily tours are offered out of Kahului airport, the Island’s international gateway, and also the small airport of Kapalua on the west coast of the island, close to many of the big resorts and hotels. Kapalua was where we were ... more

Volcanoes are amongst the most violent and dangerous things on this planet. Civilisations and communities throughout history have been destroyed by their power. Further afield, the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus is believed to have been shaped by its high levels of volcanoes.

However, despite their destructive nature, we are fascinated by them. I doubt that there are many people in the world that wouldn’t be able to draw a basic volcano and hundreds of films, documentaries and books are dedicated to the subject.

One of the most active regions in the world for volcanic activity is the Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island in Hawaii. Situated over a hotspot in the Earth’s core, that has been responsible for the creation of all of the Hawaiian Islands; the park is home to many amazing sites. However, given the continuously changing landscape, the volcano of Kilauea has been active for 25 years; the only way to truly appreciate the area is from the air.

Many companies offer trips over this amazing landscape, the majority using helicopters based on the Big Island itself. Unfortunately, the time that we would have to spend on Big Island meant that it would be a push to fit a helicopter trip in. We eventually settled on flying with Maui Air who offer Volcano Air Tours out of Kahului airport on the island of Maui.

Volcanoes National Park

The Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park was established in 1916 and was designated as a World Heritage site in 1987. The park is 520 square miles wide and is home to a wide range of environments ranging from sea level to the summit of the world’s most massive volcano Mauna Loa. Climates range from desert to rainforest and the park is home to several active eruptive sites, offering us a sight deep in to the Earth’s core.

The landscape is continually changing due to the continuously erupting Kilauea with roads, houses and forest destroyed by regularly flowing lava flows from this, the world’s most active volcano.

Maui Air/Volcano Air Tours

Established in June 1993, Maui Air operates a fleet of three Piper PA-31 Chieftain aircraft. These 10 seat aircraft are air-conditioned and Maui Air is the only operator on Maui authorized to fly over the Volcanoes Park. Daily tours are offered out of Kahului airport, the Island’s international gateway, and also the small airport of Kapalua on the west coast of the island, close to many of the big resorts and hotels. Kapalua was where we were staying, however, for our tour we flew from Kahului, as the timings were better suited.

The Trip

After a morning snorkeling on the west coast of the Island, it was time to head back to Kahului airport. We had arrived at the airport a few days earlier but it had been late and we had been traveling for 24hrs so hadn’t taken much in so it was no surprise when I managed to drive straight past the short-term car park and had to go round the block.

Once parked it was time to head to the small commuter terminal at the airport. Although the airport offers flights all the way to the US mainland and also to all of the Hawaiian Islands other major gateways, there are a small number of operators offering flights to remote airfields and these are operated from the commuter terminal, a small open air affair a short walk from the main terminal.

After a short wait, check in finally opened, operated by our future pilot, Captain Bill. With only 10 passenger max per flight there is obviously little need for hiring additional ground handling agents! Our flight had 9 passengers on board and we were soon being designated our seats for the flight. When booking we had had to provide our weights and seat designations were based around these to ensure an even weight distribution. The one down side of this was that whilst I was invited to sit up in the cockpit, my wife was left three rows back sat on her own. My views from the cockpit were amazing but the separation was a real downer as it meant that there was no-one to really appreciate the views with until after the trip had ended.

After starting up the engines, it was a short taxi to Kahului’s 2nd runway and within seconds, we were airborne and over the Northern Maui coast. We soon turned right and headed towards the windsurfers paradise of the Kanaha and Ho’okipa Beach Parks. It may have been early afternoon on a weekday but that didn’t stop there being many people enjoying the surf.

From here we headed along the northern shores towards the town of Hana. The northern shore is quite inhabited, mainly due to the amazing yet inhospitable cliff faces. Several of the opening shots to the film Jurassic Park were filmed along this coastline and it really does look like a wilderness. For us it was made more special by the fact that the previous day we had driven the northern shore road, the ‘Hana Highway’ an extremely enjoyable drive that encompasses 620 bends and almost 60 bridges (almost all just 1 lane) in just 50 miles. Seeing it from the air gave a different but just as spectacular view. The car journey had taken over 3 hours yet within 15-20 minutes we found ourselves flying over the town of Hana, spotting where we had enjoyed lunch the previous day.

From here, it was time to leave Maui and head across the Alenuihaha Channel towards the Big Island. This took about 10mins and was spent with relaxing music over the headsets that we all had on. For me in the cockpit it was strange experience as the pilot switched on the autopilot before sitting back and crossing his arms!

Once over the Big Island we headed down the Eastern Hamakua coast towards the Akaka Falls. This was just as spectacular as the coast of Maui with deep valleys down from the mountains formed over thousands of years. Our pilot was extremely knowledgeable, telling us historical stories of the tribes who used to reside in the valleys and how they lived in such an environment. Many of these valleys are almost impossible to explore by car and in some cases almost impossible by foot also. It is quite amazing to see these places as in the modern world we would assume that every on the planet is well known to us.

As the land started to flatten out, we started to approach the city of Hilo. Hilo is the biggest settlement on the island and is second largest in the Islands as a whole, only beaten by Honolulu on Oahu. The city has been hit by several tsunamis throughout history and today it is protected by a 3km long wall, which creates Hilo harbour. The last fatal tsunami was in 1960 but it does remain a fear for residents. Hilo is also home to one of the islands two international airports, which required the pilot to be in continuous contact with Air Traffic Control before we headed towards the main reason for the trip, the volcanoes national park.

There are two distinct lava types found on the Big Island. One is a crumbly stone that is formed when the hot lava is cooled suddenly, usually during an eruption. The other is a slick, tar-like substance formed when slow moving lava flows cool slowly. This seems to be more common on the island with huge swathes of land covered by it, the result of centuries of volcanic activity. Flying over the region you could see signs of habitation amongst the destruction. Amongst the endless black there would be a small patch of trees with the remnants of a road or perhaps even a house sat in the middle of it. Apparently, people regularly try to live in the area but before long, another flow will destroy everything that has been built.

Our target at this moment was the Pu’u’O’o sea vent. Situated at a point where hot lava traveling underground meets the sea, the vent is an impressive vertical column of steam that has been erupting since the early 1990’s. It was at this point that the advantages of being in a plane came to the fore. As we circled and dove through the steam, trying to catch a glimpse of some red molten lava as it hit the ocean surface, I kept noticing the nearest point available for those on the ground to see this site, a car park a couple of kms from the vent. This was a point where the road had long since been blocked by a lava flow and I had to keep thinking what it looked like to those on the ground as they saw us flying around.

After viewing the vent from several angles, it was time to head back in land towards Kilauea. As mentioned earlier, this volcano has been continually erupting for 25years and we were headed straight towards it! Before the trip several people were surprised that we would be flying over an active volcano, I think they were half expecting our plane to be hit by a piece of explosive material! However, there is no real chance of that happening and we were soon circling one of the main caldera on the volcano. It was at this point that I did catch my one and only glimpse of red molten lava. Unfortunately, Maui Air cannot control nature and most of the points where you are most likely to view molten lava were obscured by vog (volcanic fog). However, this momentary glance was still well worth the wait as it did ensure that I could claim to have seen the glow!

From Kilauea, we headed towards the Mauna Loa and the saddle path between this massive mountain and Mauna Kea towards the north of the island. At this point, we did have to go a slightly longer route than usual due to the appearance of another vent within the region. A new vent opened up in the Halemaumau crater in just March last year and due to the highly sulphuric nature of the gases released, a no-fly zone was in place around the vent. This more than anything on the trip emphasised the ever changing nature of the landscape as had we gone a year earlier we would have probably flown right over the site of what is now a 65m wide hole in the Earth’s surface.

Having explored the volcanic region it was now time to head back towards Maui and the end of the trip. Passing across the saddle path that dissects the Island we were soon afforded great views of the summit of Mauna Kea, home to some of the planets best observatories. As anyone who has read my Mauna Kea review will know, this was especially meaningful to myself, as I had studied astrophysics at university and on numerous occasions seen photographs, probably taken from where I now was. As we passed the summit and headed back across the sea towards Maui we were again given music over the sound system and I was able to flick through the amazing images that I had taken on the camera (I have attached a few so please have a look through).

Before long, we were being confronted by another huge mountain, the dormant volcano of Haleakala on Maui. By this point the sun had started to set, an amazing sight from a few thousand feet as it sets over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. At this point we were also able to see the island of Kahoolawe, about the closest you can come unless you are of Hawaiian ancestry as the island is strictly controlled having been used as a military testing ground for many years. Also able to be seen is the crescent shaped Molokini. This is the rim of an old volcano and although not inhabited, is apparently home to some of the best scuba diving and snorkeling in the Islands.

As we passed over the resort of Wailea, it was time for the pilot to concentrate on the final approach back to Kahului. We would be landing on the main runway, requiring us to pass across the flat peninsula between the mountains at either side of the island. This led to some strong winds buffeting the plane and the pilot showed great skill in keeping the plane nice and straight before touching down back at Kahului, just a little under 2 hours since we had left.

A short taxi saw us back at the commuter terminal and once the propellers had stopped rotating it was time to disembark after an amazing trip. We were allowed to take some photos of us by the plane but then it was time to find the car and head home.

Conclusion

This was a thoroughly enjoyable trip and I would recommend it to people visiting the islands. It isn’t the cheapest trip at $355 each (compared to around $150-$200 for a helicopter trip). However, you do get about twice as long in the air and see much more than just the Volcanoes Park. The only real downside that we had was the separation due to weight distribution. Whilst I can understand some of the reasoning for this, it did mean that my wife and I had to enjoy the experience on our own rather than pointing out things that we had spotted etc. This was also slightly ironic given that the sunset trip that we were on is quoted as being the ‘Romantic Hawaiian Sunset’ tour! Having said that, as a want-to-be pilot, I did enjoy the views from the cockpit and the constant stream of chatter between the pilot and air traffic control that others on the flight didn’t get!

Apart from this, I can’t have any complaints and whilst I am unsure of we would be able to justify the cost had we not been on our honeymoon, I am extremely glad that we got to undertake the trip and the sights and memories I am sure will last for some time to come. 

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