As I was leaving Costco this morning, I noticed a unique airplane tail at the airport cargo area, and it was moving quickly to the active runway. I’ve never seen that tail livery before ... gray with a small dark blue stripe near the top.
Passing the airport 2 minutes later, I saw a 747 lifting off way down at the opposite end of the runway.
It was the first 747 I’ve seen here. Ever. It had a -400 size wing.
No picture. The plane wasn’t there when I drove down the hill 2.5 hrs earlier.
My guess is that it was a special flight offloading telescope equipment.
Looked like he went straight out to the mainland.
Any info appreciated.
I'd be curious to know as well.......maybe post to airliners.net to see what you get.
ReplyDeleteCan't find any freighters with a gray tail and blue stripe atop the tail. Sounds like you didn't see the body at all?
Searched privately owned 747s and came across V8-ALI owned by the Sultan of Brunei and 9K-GAA owned by the State of Kuwait. Maybe they were parked at the other end of the airport and you just saw them taxiing past the cargo ramp on the way to depart?
When I lived on Maui a few years back, a Saudi prince flew in with his A340 and a Hecules C130 flying hospital and the two parked north of runway 5/23 for a week.
There was one other 747 in Maui a few years back. It brought in a college team and their supporters for a game. And the Sands 747-SP was there in January 2014 as well.
Good luck!
Only thing that comes to mind is the Prince of Dubai was picked up today and flew out. His 744 flew in last week dropped him off and came to HNL to park.
ReplyDeleteIn checking FlightRadar24's playback, there was a 747-428 that departed HNL around 0835HST, and landed before 0900HST. It then popped up again around 1000HST, and departed eastward toward the mainland. No airline, hex code, nor routing were listed. FlightAware did not list either segment, nor its arrival into HNL.
ReplyDeleteIn checking Planespotters.net listing of former Air France 747-400Fs, there are two that were acquired by National Airlines (silver grey & blue tail), and one acquired by Air Bridge Cargo (white & blue tail).
Thank you for the clues. No, it wasn't there earlier in the morning, I would hve seen it. It was not the National livery, almost glad about that because those are really quite striking and I'd feel even worse. I did not see the fuse until it was up in the air. The way it came in and departed quickly makes me think it was a military-esque "mission."
ReplyDeleteAnother clue could be that it may not have had time to refuel here before heading back over the ocean.
ReplyDeleteIt came to OGG last week dropped off it's PAX at the hazmat area and repositioned to HNL. Was parked at the Ewa hard stand for a few days.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Royal_Air_Wing
ReplyDeleteAfter interrogating ground crew at OGG, we believe the aircraft was A6-HRM.
ReplyDeleteI saw it departing from OGG that day too and confirm it was all white. Same observation on fr24. The next day at LAX there was an all white Atlas 744F.
ReplyDeleteKonstantin