Watch out for flying PV panels
Gusty winds that blew solar panels off the roof of the Aina Haina library over the weekend raise the specter of more serious damage during worse weather.
Oahu was under a high-wind advisory for part of the weekend, but the gusts were nothing like the heavy sustained winds that would buffet the islands if a hurricane struck.
No one was injured when the panels became dislodged, but the mishap should serve as a warning to prevent similar accidents in the future.
With the proliferation of photovoltaic systems throughout the islands, there’s one more thing to add to the disaster preparedness list.
As go! goes, so go our flying options
Whatever people thought of the airlines, for whatever reason, there is little hopeful news to extract from the departure of go!
True, the carrier was maintaining a minimal flight schedule these days, which mitigates the impact on tourism. And parent company Mesa Air Group filed for bankruptcy a few years back, so we might have seen this coming.
Still, passenger air service is now essentially a monopoly — not a good thing in an island state. It’s hard to imagine interisland fares going much higher but, undoubtedly, here they come.
It’s easy, but painful, to imagine an alternate universe where Hawaii hadn’t given Superferry the heave-ho. Competition would have been nice, right about now.
Could all this change calculations for billionaire Larry Ellison, who has announced plans to curtail Molokai service on his Island Air?
Who knows? But we can imagine.
