Flying "The Crater"

Haleakala is a sensitive site - PLEASE fly with a local (Maui) pilot for many reasons - thanks!

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Haleakala Crater is not a crater. The mountain has eroded to look like a crater, so we call it "The Crater". The summit is just over 10,000 feet -- we launch close to that and fly to the beach.

Conditions needed are: winds light enough at the summit to launch, and light enough and in the right direction to glide to the beach (don't count on getting any lift), and light enough at the beach to land safely.

Summer Crater flights are rare as the wind is usually too high.

There are north and south facing launches. Every flight for me except today's has been from the south launch. Even if winds are light, launch can have strong thermal cycles. Very experienced pilots are routinely drug through sharp lava with lines and wings and skin shredding.

Launching south means you need to get high enough to cross the ridge to make it to Kihei. The official LZ is the big grassy area of Kam III park. A couple of weeks ago, I crossed low due to SW wind/sink, and landed south of Polo Beach in Wailea. Here is a link to a Leonardo flight (not mine) from the south side to Wailea Beach. Also, clouds may come in before you cross the ridge.

Today I launched from the north, because I had not done it yet. South launch was better since thermals were coming up. We had to wait for the south side thermals to die before a small puff of wind came up from the north. So, super good light wind/high altitude launch skills are needed on the north, OR, switchy high/thermal wind launch skills are needed on the south. Both have razor sharp lava to snag your wing and lines. Oahu pilots have no shortage of high wind snaggy launch skills.

It's best to launch early. Mornings are almost always clear, and clouds almost always develop by 10 am or earlier.

Today, the clouds came fast, but low enough to fly over, and there were holes to fly through. Can you see two paragliders over the clouds? The blue one is Phil, and I'm the tiny wing on the upper left.

If there are clouds (which is almost always), you need a big compass and a GPS, and you need to know how to use them in the white room. Flying in clouds is bad, landing in a tree is bad, landing in a lava field with no cell reception and a super long hike is bad, crashing into the mountain or another PG in the cloud is VERY bad. Winds also pick up both on launch and at the beach, which is another reason to get off sooner rather than later.

Today 13 pilots launched and 11 made it to the beach. Both the Kam III LZ and the bar at 5 Palms were crowded with very happy pilots.

Crater 2 Da Beach by Maui Maniacs from AirWaterEarth on Vimeo.

Just received my new Niviuk Artic 2 ....Love it! I Want to say thanks to people behind all the technology that give us ability to fly.
February 18 2011 was a nice day to experience almost 10'000 ft decsent from Haleakala Crater to Kihei. Flight that most of local pilots get to experience a hand full of times every year and visiting pilots a hand full of times in their life : ) Keep it FUN.