I’ve been building up to this one for quite some time! I picked up the Black Square Piston and Turbine Duke combo in the autumn, but I’ve had no time to spend with it until just recently. With some holiday time kicking in, it was time to kick off a little VFR adventure across the Hawaiian islands visiting some fantastic airports and getting to really know the Duke! Let’s go!

Hilo (PHTO) to Kona (PHKO)

For this journey, I worked my way from the eastern most island (with an airport) to the western most island. That meant starting on the big island, Hawai’i, at Hilo International Airport. No scenery for this airport but the vast majority of the airports I visited during this journey include scenery developed by Northern Sky Studios. I’ll provide links as we go!

Departing Hilo airport, I pointed my nose southwards along the coast of Hawai’i because I wanted to do a little exploring along the way. And the exploration was worth it. My first destination was Kīlauea – a famous volcano. This is an active shield volcano and in MSFS you can see both the crater as well as a custom POI featuring the visitor centre on the edge of the volcano.

After that, I cruised south to the southern tip of the island. Stunning scenery all around and a great reminder at both the scale of this, the largest of the islands in the chain, and the height that the islands, formed by volcanoes, reach above sea level. The slope upwards is constant and the scale is stunning!

After reaching the southern tip, I turned north along the western coast and worked my way up to the destination. (PHKO) Kona International Airport comes with scenery thanks to one of the many World Updates so that one was covered. It’s a beautiful airport and the scenery around it is reasonably impressive – though there were more impressive ones ahead.

I landed, parked and shut the airplane down. A successful first hop!

Kona (PHKO) to Hana (PHHN)

Starting out at (PHKO) Kona for the next adventure. An early morning hop from the big island up to the next island in the chain and an airport that I’ve flown out of a few times in the past. For this flight, I was joined by a friend who was following the same path as I was.

He took off before me and we met at a private airstrip located just to the north east of Kona airport and did a couple of touch and go movements before heading out. This would become a theme in this journey and I’ve found that they have been a fun way to get a feel for an airplane without ending the fun of the flight.

After that, we headed north and made the brief crossing from Hawai’i to over to Maui. In the screenshots you can see my friend flying his A2A Aerostar on the same route. There’s no model match for the Aerostar but it did sub in a Cessna 310 which sort of works as a substitute.

Our destination airport is the brilliant little airstrip at (PHHN) Hana. It’s located in a beautiful spot just off of the ocean and with rising slopes and mountains of Maui dominating the view.

We both swept around the airport entering into a left hand pattern for runway 8 paying close attention to the prevailing winds and turbulence off of the slopes and the ocean. Its a neat little spot made more challenging by the weather.

We landed, parked, and had a look around. You can see that multiplayer clients don’t share parked aircraft location so my friend’s Aerostar was located in a parked Airvan.

Hana (PHHN) to Kapalua (PHJH)

This next flight really helped me get a sense of the sale of the Hawaiian islands. Departing Hana and heading south west across the island, I climbed my Duke up to 11,000 feet so I could get a look at the top of the mountain and Haleakalā Observatory (a MSFS point of interest). The observatory is, itself, at 10,100 feet clearing away much of the haze from thicker lower altitudes making it an ideal observatory location.

It’s a surprising thing when you look at the altimeter, realize you’re above 10,000 feet but also come to grips with the ground being right there out the window just a thousand feet below or less. Incredible!

After taking in the sights, I descended down the other side of the mountain and did an overflight of Kaho‘olawe. This island preserve is a cultural and archaeological site and it has some incredibly red soils and rocks. MSFS isn’t overplaying the redness as photos of the island reveal.

After that, I headed north to my destination at Kapalua – another great Northern Sky Studio scenery!

The approach isn’t as scenic as some that I did during this journey but the airport itself is still quite scenic with the ocean views. I also appreciate the terminal details which, when you’re walking around after parking the airplane, can be fully appreciated. I love the floor to ceiling history of aviation in West Maui poster!

Kapalua (PHJH) to Lanai (PHNY) and on to Kalaupapa (PHLU)

Another friend of mine joined me for these next two hops. A pre-dawn departure took us from Kapalua over to Lanai airport. I sadly don’t yet have the scenery for that one but is is available if you want it yourself. In any case, this was a short hop and then back on the road again to Kalaupapa.

Departing the airport, we flew overwater to take in the morning sights of Lanai. This looks like a beautiful island with rugged eastern slopes and a more gentle appearance on the western side.

It didn’t take long to find and then land at Lanai Airport. I did an overhead break and then into the pattern for a landing on runway 3. My friend did the same, although MSFS was giving us grief and I’d only see him periodically.

We didn’t stay long here. Back on the road again for the next part of the journey heading to the north and to Kalaupapa.

The scenery was about to change dramatically as our brief stop over allowed the sun to rise and everything took on an orange glow.

Cruising again over the ocean we headed for the island of Molokaʻi. Once again, we were confronted with beautiful ocean shores, beaches, and rugged hills and terrain. Unlike Maui, these weren’t as tall so climbing over them was easy to do in our well equipped TBM and Duke.

After a little sightseeing, we located our destination and setup for landing.

The scenery pack for this airport includes a lighthouse and lots of little terminal details. Just like the other airports we’d visited. The scenery as you come onshore is generally good though the break between ocean and land was a bit iffy. Still, the overall scene was incredible especially in the morning light.

Kalaupapa (PHLU) to Kawaihapai/Dillingham (PHDH)

Two friends joined me on this next sortie flying the TBM and Aerostar! We first began by departing Kalaupapa and then climbing the cliffs to the plateau where we then began doing a series of touch and go practice landings at Molokai Airport. Kalaupapa and Molokai are part of the same scenery pack which is part of the reason why I wanted to drop by here. The airports are located very close to each other so it was just a short deviation from our course.

As we completed a series of circuits, a flash of lighting could be seen to a thunderstorm passing to the south. More clouds rose up to the west but we were undeterred.

The next stop on this flight was some of the better known parts of Hawaii. Our journey would take us over Honolulu, Pearl Harbor, and then on to a former airbase of Dillingham Air Field.

Dark clouds and rainstorms were ahead pinged by my weather radar and quite visible too. Honolulu was covered in lots of cloud, rain and even a bit of fog but the scenery was still incredible with the iconic Diamond Head volcano crater really standing out. Definitely want to visit there!

Passing the downtown area, I was obligated to fly over Pearl Harbor and fly over the USS Missouri museum. The battleship is a point of interest in MSFS and looks pretty good as does Ford Island and the surrounding Pearl Harbor facilities. Lots of history here.

We also flew over Wheeler Field, another historical location, before continuing on.

The low clouds and rain did obscure some of the sightseeing but it was made worth it as we got to the north western tip of the island and emerged into much clearer skies.

The three of us each brought our aircraft in for a landing with a nice easy touch down on the excessively long runway at Dillingham Airfield (PHDH). The airport was originally built as a military airbase before it gradually became a public use facility. The airport is now home to glider and adventure tours. It’s also one of the most beautiful approaches I did during the whole journey…. just look at those images!

PHDH to HI01

Last leg! Flying from O’ahu to Kauai, my destination was the lovely Princeville Airport once again detailed with beautiful scenery from Northern Sky Studios. But first, I had to get there!

Starting up my Duke for the last leg, I taxied out to the runway and promptly took off. With moody skies over the airport, my departure here was just as scenic as my arrival.

Once away from the island, we got into some partly cloudy conditions and I buckled in for the approximately 20 minute flight to the next island.

Good time to check the engines, adjust the cabin temperature (yes, that’s a thing in the Duke), and watch the skies go past.

Once over Kauai I decided I should do a little scenic tour of the island.

I flew past Lihue Airport, over shopping malls, resorts, and more golf courses. Very Hawaii! The mountains and deep valleys were also very typical of what I had seen around my tour to date.

Rounding the southern edge of the island and heading along the western coast, where the scenery, skies and ocean views all really came together. This is a spectacular area to go flying.

I didn’t know it at the time but I also overflew the missile range and near some high powered radar systems. Some of those radars are covered as a point of interest in the sim so that was cool to see sitting on the slope like that.

Then finally it was time to bring the journey to an end. Flying over the town of Hanalei, I spotted my destination!

This is a very cool airstrip carved out of the forest and with scenic views of the mountains in one direction and the ocean in the other. The apron is just the right size for an airplane like the Duke to come on in for a landing.

I really enjoyed this one, as I have many of my other adventures going point to point. Getting to know each place a little better while learning a new airplane was a great experience. The Duke is a fantastic add-on by Black Square and I’ve got a review coming up on it soon that will hopefully be a good read. This journey helped me get really comfortable with the aircraft and its systems.

Journey complete! No idea what the next one will be!