Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Hawaii, Kauai island

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:

Hawaii, Kauai island

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Port Allen Airport / Burns Field (PAK), Hanapepe, HI

21.9 North / 159.6 West (Southern coast of Island of Kauai, HI)

A September 4 1941 aerial view looking west at Burns Field,

(courtesy of Dave Fahrenwald of Hawaiian Aviation History).

Note what appears to be one aircraft at the far end of the east/west runway (top center of photo)

and another aircraft just to the right of the runway intersection.

This small airfield was originally known as the Auxiliary Flying Field at Port Allen Military Reservation,

and was one of the first airfields on Kauai, opening in 1929.

It served as a military airfield in the 1930s & became a Territorial Airport in 1931.

An order issued by General Douglas MacAurthur in 1933 renamed the field as Burns Field,

in honor of a pilot killed in WW1.

A September 4 1941 aerial view of Burns Field (courtesy of Dave Fahrenwald of Hawaiian Aviation History)

showed the field to have two runways with a cluster of small buildings just northeast of the runway intersection.

Inexplicably, the April 1945 V-450 Hawaiian Islands U.S. Navy Aviation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

did not depict any airfield at Port Allen, just an emergency seaplane anchorage.

The 1947 Hawaiian Islands Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss)

described Port Allen Airport as having a 3,000' hard-surface runway.

Small fixed-wing commercial aircraft used the airport until 1950

when they switched to Lihue Airport.

Port Allen Airport was depicted in the airfields diagram

on the October 1954 Hawaiian Islands Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

as having a 2,500' asphalt Runway 9/27 & an unpaved Runway 5/23.

In the 1950s, the airport included a large hangar, two small hangars,

a small airport terminal building & another small building complex.

It was listed among active airports in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory,

with a 2,500' paved runway, and the operator listed as "Hawaii Aeronautics Commission".

The December 1977 Hawaiian Islands Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

depicted the Port Allen Airport as having a single 2,400' paved runway.

The 1977 USGS topo map (courtesy of Jonathan Westerling) depicted a paved Northwest/Southeast runway,

as well as a closed former crosswind runway, oriented Northeast/Southwest.

A 1977 USGS aerial photo of Port Allen Airport (from the Lihue Public Library, courtesy of Jonathan Westerling).

The 1981 Hawaii Airports & Flying Safety Guide (courtesy of Jonathan Westerling)

depicted Port Allen as having a single 2,480' paved Runway 9/27,

along with a closed crosswind runway.

Today, no buildings at all remain at Port Allen Airport,

just two runways on a barren wind-swept peninsula.

What few structures remained at Port Allen after most operations moved to Lihue Airport

were most likely destroyed when Hurricane Iniki ravaged the Island of Kauai in 1992.

There are also no aircraft based at Port Allen.

However, Port Allen Airport could experience a renaissance in the future.

The Hawaii State Government has released a plan that attempts to

encourage Kauai helicopter tour operators to consolidate at Port Allen.

To encourage this, facilities at Port Allen would be improved,

including the construction of up to four aircraft hangars & eight aircraft parking aprons,

public waiting facilities & access road pavement to reduce dust.

A 1999 photo by Paul Freeman of a Hughes 500D of Interisland Helicopters landing at Port Allen.

Paul Freeman flew from Port Allen Airport in 1999

on a Hughes 500D of Interisland Helicopters on an aerial tour of the Island of Kauai.

Their tour is highly recommended, as they fly the 500D with no doors, for a spectacular view.

Even the Interisland Helicopters aircraft is not based at Port Allen,

but rather in a small hangar a mile away,

and at the end of the day the 500D is towed on a trailer down a public road to the hangar.

The airfield at Port Allen Airport consists of two paved runways & a helicopter parking apron.

The only remaining active runway, 9/27, is 2,450 ft long.

Unfortunately, the plans which had been previously proposed in the 1990s to revitalize Port Allen Airport

have been stymied by the residents surrounding the airport (what a surprise!),

according to an January 2001 article by Anthony Sommer.

It described how in 2000 the State Airports Division had asked Kauai County

for permits to put up a fuel tank & office building at Burns Field.

The construction at Burns Field was done to accommodate Air 1 Helicopters,

which provide all helicopter services to both the Kauai Fire Department

and Kauai Police Department under a contract with the county.

Air 1, owned by Ken D'Attilio, is paid between $50,000-$100,000 annually,

depending on how many missions it flies.

Air 1 also provides tours & takes construction crews to remote work sites.

On December 10, 2000, Air 1 was forced to move out of property next to Burns Field

that it had been leasing for many years.

Then in 2001 the Kauai County Planning Department hit the state Aviation Division with a citation

for allowing the construction of a fuel tank & office building without county permits at Burns Field.

All of the other helicopter companies on Kauai

are based either at Lihue Airport or the privately-owned Princeville Airport.

D'Attilio said the best he could do was to get on a waiting list for Lihue Airport.

"What was I going to do? I have employees, I have customers, I've got to operate from somewhere.

I did what I checked out to be legal," he said.

D'Attilio said the "office building" is a mobile home

and that he was told by Kauai Police they consider it a vehicle rather than a building.

South shore residents were divided on upgrading Port Allen Airport.

Some said it would increase tourism spending; others said it would provide only noise & dust.

Strong opposition came from Hawaiians who use the salt ponds adjacent to the airport.

Even though the airport has existed for more than 70 years without any fuel spills polluting the salt ponds,

Wilma Holi, whose family has gathered salt at the ponds for generations, sued the state.

A June 2004 photo looking northeast at Port Allen Airport.

A June 2004 close-up of the ramp at Port Allen Airport.

Jonathan Westerling visited Port Allen Airport in 2004.

"That this is truly an interesting airport.

It is unattended, and there are no planes based at the airport,

however there are at least 12 takeoffs & landings every hour due mostly to the helicopter tours.

There are two tour operators running flight operations out of Port Allen

which combined use five aircraft constantly throughout the day.

There is also a powered hand gliding operation at Port Allen.

There are no remnants of the old cross runway that I could find."

A 2004 photo of Port Allen's Runway 9 by Jonathan Westerling.

The trailers on the far side of the airport are the entire extent of any buildings on the field.

A 2004 photo by Jonathan Westerling of a typical scene at the Port Allen Airport:

simultaneous takeoffs & landings by the two tour companies

(a Bell 206 of Bali Hai in the foreground, along with the Hughes 500 "Air1" of InterIsland landing in the background).

A 2004 photo by Jonathan Westerling of one of Bali Hai's Bell 206 Jet Rangers being towed to its off-airport hangar at the end of he day.

"Even though this happens every evening,

the sight of a helicopter roaming the streets of Kauai got plenty of stares from curious onlookers."

Sadly, this Jet Ranger was destroyed a few months later in a crash that was fatal for all onboard.

Unfortunately, as of 2004, improvements will not yet be coming to Port Allen Airport.

According to the State of Hawaii's Steve Takashima (via Jonathan Westerling),

"None of the improvements in the master plan

has been funded as of yet & there are current plans to implement the improvements."

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