When the Going Gets Tough ... The Tough Go Tropo

"Honolulu Center, Cessna 827 level at 10,000." I haven't flown in this airspace since 1987, so old habits die hard ... Honolulu Center became HCF Control three weeks ago. Oops!

I am not the only one on frequency who makes the mistake, as two others report in to "Honolulu Center" just after my call. It must be a harder adjustment to those who
have been talking to Honolulu every day for years or decades.

The scenery is basically the same, although last time around I was roughly 25,000 feet higher on my way across the Pacific to points west (or east depending on where you start counting your longitude). That is Mauna Kea, one of the larger but dormant volcanoes on the big island of Hawaii. I'm at ten thousand feet, so it is looming roughly another 3,600 feet above me.

The nice thing about being on holiday is that you have more flexibilty to see a few of the local sights you used to pass by. Ever see a volcano up close and personal? That's the Pu'u O'o crater near Kilauea belching smoke up ahead.


And here we are peering into the belly of the beast. Unfortunately ... or fortunately, depending on how you feel about these things ... it is not spewing a lot of lava up these days, but it is still active, and if you make a few circuits of it you will see the lava sloshing around inside.

And if you follow te smoke popping up at a few points along the lava tube that leads to the sea, you can see new land being added to the Big Island every day.

Great fun. The Partnerin and I have taken a few weeks to visit the Pacific, which given the bad weather in the US was probably a good choice. And I've taken the opportunity to buzz about the skies on the other side of the world. The remaining boxes and uninstalled lights can wait for us to return ... I'm not convinced I want to return, but more about that later. In the meantime, enjoy the sights.