Jet startles slumbering Kalaheo

By Paul Curtis - The Garden Island

Published: Thursday, May 28, 2009 2:12 AM HST

KALAHEO — In his 30 years living in Kalaheo, Bruce Savage said he has never heard anything like what he heard late Tuesday night.

The “loud roar” around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday lasted around two minutes and visions of a North Korea missile attack were going through his head, he said.

Savage called the Kaua‘i Police Department Waimea substation Wednesday morning and an officer there didn’t recall hearing anything.

Tom Clements, spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, said there was no aircraft activity at the base after dark Tuesday. He lives in Kalaheo and said he heard what he is pretty sure was a jet flying overhead late Tuesday night.

There was one complaint call made to the Federal Aviation Administration Honolulu Flight Standards District Office, said FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor.

But since the Lihu‘e Airport FAA tower isn’t open at that time, and nobody reported tail numbers, identifying marks or similar information that could be used to identify the aircraft, there isn’t anything the FAA can do, he said.

A Kalaheo resident reported that it was overcast when the jet flew overhead.

Commercial jets are supposed to fly at least 1,000 feet above the nearest obstacle but, again, without anyone on the ground supplying identifying marks, the FAA has no idea where the plane came from, where it was going, and whether it was flying too low, Gregor said.

“An annoying flight isn’t necessarily an illegal flight,” Gregor said.

“A flight can be equally annoying and legal,” he said, adding that if people on the ground can get information like tail numbers, airplane colors, multiple witnesses, photos or video, the FAA can then investigate.

There were no calls made to the on-island tour helicopter help line.

Normally, the latest departures from Lihu‘e Airport are 10:50 p.m. (Hawaiian Airlines and US Airways), and 10:30 p.m. (Alaska Airlines), said a visitor-information worker at Lihu‘e Airport.


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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of kauaiworld.com.

kamika2k wrote on May 28, 2009 7:01 AM:

" I too also heard what sounded like a big jet flying over the puhi area. I tried to look out the window to see what or who it was but it was too overcast to see. "

kauai2009 wrote on May 28, 2009 8:56 AM:

" I heard it also, near lawai! wierd i couldnt see anything either. it scared me because it was like 12 in the morning! "

blueblood wrote on May 28, 2009 3:22 PM:

" I don't know what is worst, the low flying jet (or what ever it was), or the fact that no one can tell us what it was. Talk about unsafe airways. "

Surfdog wrote on May 28, 2009 9:27 PM:

" I live in Poipu and thought the jet was going to come down in the yard. Looked for it but never saw the thing. My friend in Hanapepe heard it loudly too. Friends in Kalaheo heard the thing as well. I agree that the disturbing thing is that no one can (or is allowed) to explain what was going on. "

boatgirl wrote on May 28, 2009 10:00 PM:

" I was awake battling a fever between 11:30 and 12:30am when i herd the sound. I have been to air shows where the fighter jets do some of there manuvers and thats just what it sounded like. I got alittle nervis and by the time i was able to wake everyone in the house hold the sound was gone. All i know is it definetly sounded military. Dont we have a right to know whats going on, what awoke us in our beds, what made me and alot of other citisens unerved? "

Kauaipilot wrote on May 28, 2009 11:51 PM:

" The military always denies that they were involved, but their flight path of jets out of PMRF is right over Kalaheo! It was likely a military jet departing, on the climb out it would be at low altitude and high power setting. But I don't think it would have lasted for 2 minutes as Mr. Savage claims. "

1concernedcitizen wrote on May 29, 2009 12:33 AM:

" Anyone living in the Hanapepe area who was up at that late hour must've heard it! All I could think about when I heard the loud roaring sound was, "Oh no, is this another surprise attack like Pearl Harbor?" I was so afraid especially after my husband told me that US was under alert that night due to the situation with N. Korea.

Is anyone investigating this? Kauai citizens are concerned! Is there anyone who can give us answers? "

blueblood wrote on May 29, 2009 10:14 PM:

" I think it was some military boys that have been watching to much Top Gun. It must have been Maverick and Goose. I am not joking! I guess they got denied permission to buzz the tower. "

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