I'm planning a holiday to Kona, Hawaii. Can anyone advise if there are strict restrictions of flying our drones there? Appreciate any comments guys.
Flying Drones in Hawaii
- Thread starter Alienz
- Start date
I'm from the Big Island... one thing you need to be aware of is the airport located about 6 miles north of Kailua Kona... and many tour operations that fly helicopter tours for the tourists at low altitudes at any random time of day..
There are a bunch of phantom owners over there and no serious restrictions as far as i know...
Remember also that many places are national parks on the big island including Volcanoes National Park and Captain Cook... so their own restrictions apply there...
Many places there are also considered sacred grounds and would be "kapu" to fly there ("forbidden" or "don't go there")
The locals have an attitude towards outsiders (especially white folks or "haole's") who act like they can do whatever they want or have rude behavior... so if you find yourself in a sticky situation... a lot of "sorries" and "i didn't knows" will help more than "whats the problem ... it's only a quadcopter"
If you stick to the tourist areas and hotels and beaches and ask a lot of questions before you fly you should do fine... early morning is better with less people... sunset brings out a lot of watchers so it's hard to get away from the crowd.
There are a bunch of phantom owners over there and no serious restrictions as far as i know...
Remember also that many places are national parks on the big island including Volcanoes National Park and Captain Cook... so their own restrictions apply there...
Many places there are also considered sacred grounds and would be "kapu" to fly there ("forbidden" or "don't go there")
The locals have an attitude towards outsiders (especially white folks or "haole's") who act like they can do whatever they want or have rude behavior... so if you find yourself in a sticky situation... a lot of "sorries" and "i didn't knows" will help more than "whats the problem ... it's only a quadcopter"
If you stick to the tourist areas and hotels and beaches and ask a lot of questions before you fly you should do fine... early morning is better with less people... sunset brings out a lot of watchers so it's hard to get away from the crowd.
Being humble & polite gets you far for sure 
Have this page bookmarked too
https://www.mapbox.com/drone/no-fly/?em ... 4/-86.6306
Have this page bookmarked too
https://www.mapbox.com/drone/no-fly/?em ... 4/-86.6306
Great! Thanks for the advise guys! Will definitely respect the local "rules" and try not to intrude on anyone.
Hey man I'm on the big island and like others have said you unfortunately cannot go near the volcano nor honaunau. There are two airports on the island (both Class B) meaning try to stay more than a mile away and really you should be further than that. If you have any questions let me know
hawaiibyair said:Hey man I'm on the big island and like others have said you unfortunately cannot go near the volcano nor honaunau. There are two airports on the island (both Class B) meaning try to stay more than a mile away and really you should be further than that. If you have any questions let me know
Thanks!!!hawaiibyair said:Hey man I'm on the big island and like others have said you unfortunately cannot go near the volcano nor honaunau. There are two airports on the island (both Class B) meaning try to stay more than a mile away and really you should be further than that. If you have any questions let me know
Howdy hawaiibyair,
I plan on heading over that direction in about a week or so from Washington state, and I was carefully considering bringing along a "guest"... my Phantom 2 Vision+. I don't have a hard case for it (yet...), but I will hopefully have one by the week's end, and definitely, by the time I leave for Hawaii. Would it be alright to contact you/add you as a buddy/get your e-mail address, if I have any questions regarding flying my quad-copter in your neck of the woods? I'd greatly appreciate it
-Tim (aka Phlewyd)
Yeah, I've heard of guys that successfully recovered their copter from a quick dunk into water, but lava might be an entirely different story. Even a quick dunk would probably be bad.
Curt
Curt
