Cracks found on the runway has caused Kona Airport to be cloed indefinately.
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They are working to either find a path or patch the big hole. Some suggestion is that the repair could be in place by morning. Time will tell.
But what a place to be stranded in! Leave the airport and come back when its fixed.
It looks as thought the airport in association with the Dept of Transportation was able to repair the runway overnight.
Lavarock, do you think this is related to the volcanic activity nearby?
I don’t think the earthquakes have had any effect on the runway. Most of the quakes we have here are at least 60 miles away on the other side of the island at Volcanoes National Park. We only get occassional quakes on this side and often quite mild. The highest quakes I remember on the Kona side near the airport were a 6.9 and 6.2 the same day in 2018. We had no massive damage, no deaths, just some building with cracks and a few pier and post homes shifted on their foundations.
They suspect the runway problems were caused by recent heavy rains. The repairs to the 100 sq foot area were completed overnight. There are some other repairs that can be done after hours when we don’t have flights. Actually we have some cargo planes come in, but they can alter their schedules some to give crews time.
Retired pilot here.
For those that don’t know, runways are built to much higher standards than roads. Large aircraft are very heavy and when they land they put a lot of stress on the runway.