Aircraft Rental Hawaii

[Straighten Up]

As the title suggests, I'm off to Hawaii for a couple of weeks in January and would love to take a scenic flight around one or more of the islands (Oahu, Maui, Big Island). I have an FAA piggy back on my EASA license but assuming I'd need a check out anyway, figure I'll probably be best off heading out for an hour or so with an instructor. Any advice on which island (I think B.I. is probably my preference) and any particular outfits to look at would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

S.U.

[MarcK]

I think there is a rental outfit at Kona airport.

[evansb]

There is no shortage of affordable commercial for-hire scenic air tour providers throughout the Hawaiian Islands..

I do understand your desire to pilot an aircraft yourself around the islands, however...http://tropicbirdflightservice.com/

[tdracer]

Earlier this year I took a helicopter tour of the Big Island - perhaps the best $400 I ever spent!
While I can understand a desire to pilot yourself, there is a lot to be said for letting someone else do the hard stuff while you enjoy the view - plus a helicopter can go places and do things that would be ill-advised in a winged aircraft (something I had to continuously remind myself of - that we were not overly dependent on forward speed for lift:=)


These are the guys I went with, highly recommended:
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters - Big Island - Big Island Helicopter Tours, Sightseeing Helicopter Tours on Big Island (http://www.bluehawaiian.com/bigisland/tours/)
The Big Island spectacular was ~2.5 hours flight time, plus ~30 minute refueling stop in Hilo.

[no_one]

We flew with both Tropic Bird on the Big island and Wings over Kauai.

For both there was an instructor along for the ride but I did most of the flying. It didn't really make sense to do a checkout and then go off on our own. The instructors have pretty good local knowledge and can point things out even if its just good places to get a cold beer afterwards.

The traffic is pretty dense on Kauai and there is kind of a route that most of the tour operators fly and so they are a bit reluctant to let you go off on your own.

[hikoushi]

http://www.mooreair.com/visitingPilots.html

This is one of the few flight schools that will rent aircraft to non locally-based pilots. Not sure if this is current or not so give them a call. Flying in Hawaii is different; HNL is class Bravo airspace, and there are a lot of traffic conventions and local navigation procedures / weather / wind issues VFR that differ from the US mainland significantly. If you only want to fly once or twice it is way better to just hire a CFI to go fly with you. Wouldn't put in the effort to do a local checkout unless you plan to log a lot of hours out here!

http://www.trfshawaii.com

Try this one too. Don't know if they rent solo to visiting pilots, but for dual instruction by far the most together flight school in the islands at the current time.

[Flion]

Hi Straighten Up,
I was reading about your experience with hour building in US with Pacific Air and since I'd need a bit of help to sort out some things (and you offered to be pm-ed), I'd like to contact you and discuss a few things. I can't find the way to contact you, perhaps because I'm Probationary PPRuNer.
Sorry for off topic.

[Straighten Up]

Many thanks for all the replies. I'll get in touch with a couple of the mentioned companies. Filon -I've sent you a PM.

[No Fly Zone]

Agree with eansb here. Probably much better and less costly to hire a local CPL to fly you around a few islands, so you can look out the windows. In addition, they know where yo go and you probagly do not. Have a good time...