Hawaii Glider and Sailplane Academy

«Hana Hou Air Soars as an experience»
I wanted to find interesting, unique activities for my 9 and 11 year olds and this is it! Both kids had. What they described as a «totally awesome» experience. From my perspective, Yuko and her pilots were fabulous to deal with… friendly, instructive and efficient.
Hana Hou Air is located on the North Shore, very close to Haleiwa, so plan accordingly. I emailed with Yuko a few times before the date and called her once to set the date and time. Once at the field, each kid was up and soaring within 30 minutes. The beauty of gliders or sail planes is there really isn’t much to them. No engine means no gas which means no power… more importantly, no fires if there were any mishaps. According to Yuko and her pilots, it is the safest form of aviation. Yuko, who has been flying for over 20 years had two pilots on hand, both of whom were flying big jets or commercial planes for decades prior to retiring. They were excellent, friendly and handled the kids with care.
Once you get released by the tow plane, you basically glide down. When there is more winds, you have more lift and could stay a loft longer. I opted to buy a lesson for my son Who got to take the stick during the flight. Both kids reported seeing just incredible views on their flights. Neither experienced fear or motion sickness.
I think we were there a total of about an hour maybe an hour and a half before heading up the coast to snorkel… it’s a one of a kind experience from what they said and I heartily recommend Hana Hou!