Welcome to one of the country’s top helicopter training schools.

Our focus from day one is to guide our student pilots on a path to career success. At Mauna Loa we give you the training you need to become a confident and competent professional, prepared to work anywhere in the world.

We are located on three of the tropical islands in the Hawaiian chain. Mauna Loa emphasizes quality helicopter training in the diverse environment that makes up Hawaii. You are about to embark on perhaps the greatest adventure of your life. Mauna Loa will provide you the knowledge and skills you need to start on a rewarding and promising career in aviation. You can learn to fly anywhere you want, why not train in one of the most stunning places on earth?

The Mauna Loa Family

Mauna Loa’s experienced flight instructors have graduated more than 200 pilots in the past three years. Our instructors are seasoned professionals who attend annual recurrent training and take pride in assuring that each student receives the individual attention needed to become a professional helicopter pilot.

There’s a good reason our instructors know the airways of Hawaii so well: each went through our professional flight training. Wherever possible, we hire our graduates as instructors. This assures us the continuity of training and invaluable local wind and weather experience that will make your training effective and efficient.

Helicopter Pilot Training and Services

Aloha! Thank you for your interest in our company and our helicopter pilot training programs. We hope the following information will answer all your questions.

Mauna Loa Helicopters conducts helicopter pilot training, aerial photography and helicopter tour operations on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Keahole-Kona International Airport, the Honolulu International Airport and Lihue airport on Kauai. We believe that Hawaii offers the best infrastructure for flight training; more convenient flight practice areas, less congested airspace, more favorable weather conditions and best of all, one of the most dynamic training environments on the planet.


Hawaii’s unique environment, which includes high mountains up to 13,796ft/4,200 meters, active volcanoes, constantly changing weather conditions and busy airspace, (Honolulu International Airport is one of the busiest in the US) is not only the perfect place to get your helicopter pilot training, but also makes your stay an unforgettable experience.

The weather in Hawaii is excellent for year round training. No doubt, Hawaii offers the best climate in the U.S.A. You don’t have to put up with the extreme heat of states like Arizona, or the high humidity of the eastern and southern states, which makes your flight training uncomfortable. Also, our flight operations are not restricted by fog, which is very common around the west coast. The average daily temperature in Kona is 85 degrees F (30 degrees C) during summer months and 75 degrees F (24 degrees C) during the winter season. Never too hot and certainly not cold.

The cross country flights are conducted between Airports, designated landing areas and also between neighbor islands (Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Oahu) which will give you experience in offshore operations. During your training, you will have many opportunities to practice bush, rugged terrain, mountain, and ridgeline landings. Night flight training is included in our private/commercial pilot courses. We are one of the few schools that can offer Instrument, Instrument Instructor and Airline Transport Pilot Courses as well as External load training. With financing available for all courses, we have all the amenities of the largest helicopter pilot training schools, and yet maintain the personal level of instruction that makes smaller schools so special.

Our experienced instructors, two of which have more than 2,000 hrs of flight instruction given in helicopters, and have graduated more than 75 pilots in the last three years, are the greatest asset to Mauna Loa Helicopters. They are all professionals who attend annual recurrent training and take great pride in assuring that each student receives the individual attention needed to become a Professional Helicopter Pilot.

Mauna Loa Helicopters Pilot Training Schools, are a FAA Part 141 approved  ensuring structured and efficient flight training. We are authorized by the U.S. Immigration to issue I-20 forms to foreign students to obtain M-1 student visas.

Besides the training, we offer our career-minded students a job assistance program, which from your first day is designed to give you an insight into the aviation industry. An industry which you will come to realize is very small and close knit. Mauna Loa Helicopters prefers to hire its Instructor graduates, depending on the school’s demand at the time and also on the individual’s performance and professionalism. In any case we will help you in any way we can find your first flying job.