Low-flying plane
violated custom
but not any rules

It flew below the local standard
of 1,200 feet, but an official
says safety was not at risk

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

When a 747 jet startled residents by flying over Waikiki on Jan. 4, "safety was never compromised," the manager of air traffic control for the Honolulu Airport says.

However, to be a "good neighbor," the Federal Aviation Administration will keep in place new rules that require pilots not to fly over land as they approach the airport, said Robert Rabideau.

The pilot of China Airlines Flight 18 "was making what he believed was a normal approach," Rabideau said about the incident that prompted dozens of residents to complain to the FAA about the plane's path over Waikiki and downtown Honolulu.

The flight "disturbed a lot of residents. ... On a Saturday at 7 in the morning, people weren't anticipating" seeing a plane flying over land, Rabideau said.

Normally, pilots approaching the airport on a day when Kona winds are blowing stay over the ocean until just before the landing on the reef runway. Because the China Airlines pilot had been given permission to land with visual flight rules instead of by instrument readings, he was within FAA standards but was not following standard local practice, Rabideau said.

"In the future, for noise abatement, when you're coming in for runway 2-6-left, just keep it offshore and don't go over land," the Honolulu control tower advised the pilot that day, according to an FAA transcript.

"Roger, thank you," the pilot responded.

FAA readings of the plane's position second by second that morning show that it did descend lower than the standard local practice of 1,200 feet shortly after it passed the Century Center condominiums on Kalakaua Avenue.

As the plane flew over downtown, roughly parallel with King Street, it descended as low as 900 feet as it passed near Aloha Tower.

That descent was part of the plane's landing, which had been OK'd by the tower, Rabideau said. But because planes do not normally fly that low over Honolulu, people took notice.

Though Rabideau described the incident as "a nonevent," he said he will keep in place new rules he set on Jan. 9, as a result of complaints about the China Airlines flight.

"It's working well and we haven't gotten any complaints."

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Federal Aviation Administration
China Airlines