The State of Hawaii purchased an unmanned surveillance aircraft last year to patrol the skies over Honolulu Harbour but the aircraft can’t be flown because of heavy air traffic in the area.
The $75,000 aircraft was delivered last June – six months after Hawaii Reporter disclosed that the state had not sought and was unlikely to receive federal approval to actually fly the aircraft. It has been stored since then in a state office on the Honolulu waterfront.
Harbors Division administrator Davis Yogi said the state didn’t check with the Federal Aviation Administration about flying the aircraft until it received inquiries from Hawaii Reporter in January 2011 on the subject. The FAA then told the state the aircraft could not be deployed in the crowded airspace adjacent to Honolulu International Airport and Hickam Air Force Base.
Harbours official Davis Yogi at security centre video display
“It was a glitch,” said Yogi. “It works, we’re maintaining it, but we just can’t fly it.” The aircraft “was already built” by the time the state talked to the FAA, Yogi continued. “We had to accept it,” he said.
Transportation Department spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said the purchase, by harbour security contractor Hawaiya Technologies, Inc., was a “mistake” and an example of ”government not working.”
The state may try to sell it or partner with another government agency for its use, said Meisenzahl.
Hawaiya Technologies was hired under a sole source $1.4 million harbour security contract in 2009. Current Transportation Department Director Glenn Okimoto first sought approval of the Hawaiya sole source contract, including the UAS acquisition, in 2007 when Okimoto was head of the DOT harbours division.
The aircraft is a small part of a much larger security system now in operation at several waterfront locations on Oahu. A second system is now being installed on Maui and more are planned for the Big Island and Kauai. Paperwork for the Maui security system said deployment of another aircraft was planned there, but Yogi said only the Honolulu plane was acquired.
Source: Hawaii Reporter