Hawaii
You might not be able to fly over Hawaii's volcanoes anymore
FILE: Lava erupts from the Kilauea volcano on Jan. 6, 2023, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Andrew Richard Hara/Getty ImagesA new federal management plan seeks to reduce noise levels generated by commercial helicopter tours over Hawaii Volcanoes National Park by significantly scaling back the number of tours allowed each day and limiting which routes they can take.
The National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration collaborated on the Air Tour Management Plan (ATMP) for the park. Their stipulations were released on Dec. 20, 2023.
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Commercial helicopter operators can continue to offer air tours as specifications are amended.
The federal agencies are seeking to institute no-fly dates, including Sundays and six traditional Hawaiian holidays, and condense the daily schedule from 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time for most tours to fly over the park.
The biggest blows to the commercial helicopter industry are a reduction in the annual number of air tours and which tour routes they’re allowed to fly in the park.
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However, the sharp decline in annual operations isn’t what some commercial helicopter businesses say will hurt them the most. Quentin Koch, owner of Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, told SFGATE that by limiting the number of flight routes to only three, the ATMP creates a safety concern by stripping pilots of their discretion for choosing “the safest route for the ever-changing weather in Hawaii.”
Koch is hoping that the park service and FAA allow operators to adopt a “voluntary plan” that he said would allow their pilots to have more choices on which routes they can fly.
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“I’m really hopeful that the FAA will look at this from a safety aspect and will give us flexibility on the routes,” he said. “We don’t like the set routes.”
Years in the making, the plan seeks to address disruptive noise levels inside the park. In order to meet the requirements of the National Parks Air Tour Management Act passed in 2000, the park service and FAA are developing either an air tour management plan or a voluntary agreement.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is one of several national parks the two agencies are working to address.
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The ATMP references a 2007 survey conducted in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park which found that “the majority of people who reported hearing aircraft considered it either unacceptable or annoying and reported negative emotions or feelings associated with aircraft sound.” The ATMP also noted that the helicopter noise had an effect on “critically endangered Hawaiian endemics.”
The coalition’s founding member Bob Ernst, a rancher and farmer who lives under a flight path taken by commercial helicopters, explained to SFGATE that although the ATMP may appear like a win for the coalition, it doesn’t go far enough. He wants to see a full restriction of flights over the park.
“This ATMP proposal is totally unacceptable and we’re not going to settle for it,” Ernst said. “The public comments in the ATMP show that most people said they want a no-fly in the park.”
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A view from a tour helicopter along the Kona Kohala Coast, Hawaii.
George Rose/Getty ImagesErnst suggests that helicopter tours use routes that fly by the shore as opposed to inside the park. “They don’t lose any business and can still bring customers,” he said. “That’s an aloha way of doing business.”
For other residents living within the vicinity of the park, the helicopter tours have remained a constant nuisance, and the ATMP is just the latest chapter in an ongoing struggle for serenity.
“It still pisses me off,” said Sharon O’Connell, who lives under a flight path used to fly to Akaka Falls State Park. “I have a long driveway and every time one of them flies near me, I run up and down flipping them off. I don’t need to join a gym; I just need those copters to go away.”
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Hawaii
Hawaii County Surf Forecast for March 04, 2026 | Big Island Now
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| East Facing | 3-5 | 4-6 | 4-6 | 5-7 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Numerous showers. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||
| Winds | East winds 5 to 10 mph. | ||||||
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| Weather | Partly sunny. Numerous showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the upper 70s. | |||||
| Winds | East winds 10 to 15 mph. | |||||
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| Sunrise | 6:37 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:27 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly sunny until 6 PM, then mostly cloudy. Hazy. |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||||||
| Winds | West winds around 5 mph early in the afternoon, becoming light and variable. |
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|
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| Weather | Partly sunny. Hazy. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the mid 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Light and variable winds, becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon. |
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| Sunrise | 6:41 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:31 PM HST. | ||||||||
The current moderate northwest swell will continue a gradual decline through Thursday. A small west-northwest swell will arrive on Friday and hold through the weekend, followed by a small north-northwest swell early next week. Choppy east shore surf will build to near seasonal average by Wednesday as trade winds strengthen over and east of the islands. Little change is expected along east facing shores through the weekend, followed by a possible decline early next week if winds veer southerly. Surf along south facing shores will remain small to tiny through the weekend, and some islands may an increase in choppy surf if southerly winds develop early next week.
NORTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the early morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions move in during the morning hours with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi glassy in the morning with N winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting WNW 5-10mph.
SOUTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NE winds 10-15mph. This becomes Sideshore texture/chop for the afternoon.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
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