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     Getting back to my first visit to the States, since joining SIA, we departed Honolulu on 23rd October 1987, for San Francisco – with an en route flight time of 4:54 hours. 

     Honolulu International (HNL) had parallel runways, Eight Left and Eight Right, for the “Heavy-Jets.”  Because of the prevailing wind from the east, Runway Eight Left was used for landings, with a length of 12,300 feet, while Eight Right was used for takeoffs, having a length of 12,000 feet.

     Runway Eight Right at HNL was called the “Reef Runway”; for, in 1977, it was the first major runway to be constructed entirely offshore on a reef.  Hence we had one hell of a long taxi - taking a bridge across a lagoon - to reach its departure end.  Upon launching our 747, we were required to make a 90-degree, wild-ass right turn to our first radar vector; within two nautical miles from the end of the runway.  This was for noise abatement purposes, so we wouldn’t disturb all those hung-over tourists, in the high-rise hotels, along Waikiki.

     Ultimately we were radar vectored to the VOR station on Molokai Island. 

     From there we flew the 040-degree radial to the “CLUTS” waypoint, 179 nautical miles out.  Afterward we’d intercept the R-465 track, or airway, and follow it northeast all the way to San Francisco.

     ATC had set up eight tracks between Honolulu and the mainland.  And, in the future, I’d find myself intercepting the most southerly track on my way to Los Angeles, which, as we climbed to 37,000 feet, gave me a startling panorama off my right side of the world’s tallest volcano: snow-capped Mauna Kea on the Big Island.

     Hold the phone, dear reader!  Snow in Hawaii?  Impossible you say!  Quite possible I say – for these reasons:

                                          The top of Mauna Kea – note the observatories.     

     This dormant volcano stands at 13,803 feet above sea level, and is 124 feet higher than its active sister further to the west, which I couldn’t see, Mauna Loa.  What’s really impressive about Mauna Kea, is if you measured its total height from the ocean’s floor, it would come in above 33,000 feet – taller than Mt. Everest!

This is why astronomers love Hawaii.

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