Mechanical problems forced one plane down after miles. Rodgers' plane continued on. Some miles from Oahu, while searching for the Navy ship nearby, the PN-9 ran out of gas. The plane's pilot glided down onto a heaving sea. The Navy quickly launched a massive search. The PN-9's wind-powered radio transmitter was dead. The seaplane's crew could only receive messages and listen in frustration as searchers failed to find them. Nine days after the plane went down, a Navy submarine off Kauai made an astonishing sighting: Rodgers' PN-9 a few miles offshore.
The crew had stripped fabric from the lower wing, rigged it between the two wings, and sailed some miles. The men were starved but healthy. They had run out of food after three days, and water after six. A rainstorm had saved them from dehydration. The crew later received a hero's welcome in Honolulu. To learn more about the flight of John Rodgers and his crew, visit the Time and Navigation gallery. This model of their PN-9 seaplane is one of the objects in the gallery.
After the Navy, the U. Army Air Corps made the next attempt to reach Hawaii by air. The Army spent years in planning. It developed flight instruments and navigation techniques, made test flights, and set up radio beacons at San Francisco and on Maui to help guide the flyers. For the flight, it chose a Fokker C The tri-motor plane could carry plenty of fuel, but it lacked floats, so it could not alight on water if something went wrong. Navigator Lt. Albert Hegenberger left helped develop the Army's flight instruments and air navigation methods.
Pilot Lt. Lester Maitland was a long-distance flyer and record-setter. Maitland and Hegenberger took off from Oakland on June 28, , and soon ran into problems. A compass failed. The radio receiver cut in and out and then stopped working. An engine began to cough and spit due to carburetor icing. Nearly 26 hours after leaving California, the Bird of Paradise finally appeared and swooped down around Wheeler Field.
Maitland and Hegenberger had made history: the first flight to Hawaii. The "newest heroes of the uncharted air lanes" received leis and aloha.
The New York Tribune said of their triumph, "The cheering crowds at Honolulu see themselves emerging from the lonely isolation of the mid-Pacific. Ernest Smith dreamt of becoming the "Lindbergh of the Pacific. Aside from radio earphone problems, their hour trip went well — until they began to run low on fuel hours from land.
Smith and Bronte managed to reach Molokai before their engine finally sputtered to a stop. Seeing no good place to land, Smith skillfully glided their plane down onto a clump of thorny kiawe trees, amid "startled mynah birds and a terrified flock of quail.
Field hands from a nearby ranch came to the aid of the unhurt flyers. If you can book well in advance or have flexible travel times you can save some money. Currently flights from Japan all go to Honolulu but an exciting announcement was made earlier this year that Kona is going to get customs clearing facility allowing direct flights from Tokyo Haneda airport starting December This will make it easier for guests from Japan to visit the Big Island.
We see lots of guests from all over the world. Despite the long distance and 11 or 12 hour timezone change people from all over the world come to the Big Island for its amazing weather, beaches and of course the Lava! Where ever you are traveling from we hope you find an amazing deal and have safe travels to Paradise. Tips for Flying to the Big Island.
Flying from the Mainland There are a few routes to get to Kona from the mainland. Connecting via Honolulu. If you are flying from any other city than above its sometimes useful to consider flying to Honolulu and taking the 25 minute connecting Hawaiian Airlines, Mokulele Airlines or Island Air to Kona.
Hawaiian Mongoose Posted January 31, Archived This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. Go to topic listing.
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