Tom Bellit, a longtime Kailua resident, was driving to the landfill on Kapa’a Quarry Road recently when he noticed heavy equipment digging up the grassy area along the marsh across the road.
He went home, did some research and discovered that the 10.6-acre Kawai Nui Model Airplane Field was getting a new asphalt runway for $125,000.
It’s a fraction of the city’s $5 billion budget. But after Honolulu leaders cut costs, citing stagnant revenues and rising expenses, Bellit was surprised the city would spend so much to “pursue its hobbies.”
“I have no problem with people playing with model airplanes,” Billet said. “But I admit, $125,000 seemed like a hell of a lot of money.”
Tom Bellit saw construction at the Kawai Nui Model Airplane Field in Kailua and wondered what was going on. He was photographed on June 19 at the newly paved runway. (Craig Fujii/Civil Beat/2026)
Located on the western edge of the Kawai Nui Marsh in Kailua, the model airplane field was built over a former county landfill. It is the only location on Oʻahu officially designated for enthusiasts of flying radio-controlled model aircraft, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and gliders.
The city first designated the site for the use of model aircraft in 1972. For most of its history, the model aircraft field consisted of a large meadow. The most recent construction project, which began June 15 and was scheduled to last two weeks, replaced part of the grass area with a new asphalt runway.
When Civil Beat visited the field on the morning of June 19, runway construction appeared to be complete, but a sign outside still indicated that the runway could not be used.
Eddie Sterling, born in Guam, flew his first model airplane in the field in 1988. An avid aviator, he never missed a single Saturday after his retirement.
“I think any improvement to the field is a good thing,” he said, adding that this new runway “attracted people who haven’t flown in many years.”
The Department of Parks and Recreation said in a statement that funding for the project came from area council member Esther Kia’āina’s discretionary fund.
An occasional series that takes a closer look at public spending.
Community members expressed their desire for the runway last year after Hawaiian Electric relocated power lines in a way that hindered planes’ flight paths.
The new lines “pose a serious danger,” Matthew DeRego, a model airplane enthusiast, wrote in a letter to the city government at the time.
“I was very concerned because they said they were essentially being hindered from doing what they could normally do,” said Esther Kia’āina, a Kailua District Council member. “I thought to myself, ‘This isn’t right.'”
At a Kailua Neighborhood Board meeting in June 2025, Kiaʻāina said that the power lines are “ruining a lot of airplanes” and that “a lot of people who have expensive airplanes don’t even fly there because of it.”
According to Nathan Serota, a spokesman for the Department of Parks and Recreation, the $125,000 paving job went to Alakona Corp., which was selected based on the lowest bid from a list of pre-approved contractors.
The runway at Kawainui R/C Air Model Field in Kailua was renovated at a cost of $125,000. (Craig Fujii/Civil Beat/2026)
Bill Hicks, president of the Kailua Neighborhood Board, said he doesn’t see a problem with the spending.
“A $125,000 paving project is not unusual,” he said. “It doesn’t seem egregious. It just seems to me like the city has accepted a responsibility.”
Other U.S. cities with around a million residents, like O’Ahu’s, such as Jacksonville, Fort Worth and Austin, all have two to three model airplane fields.
The 2006 environmental assessment estimated that the field attracted 25 to 40 users on an average weekday and 60 to 80 users on weekends. The department responsible for runway maintenance does not regularly record the number of users.
In addition to funding the project in her district, Kiaʻāina said she has secured an increase in funding for the county parks department that will benefit the entire island. And the public from across Oʻahu is welcome to enjoy the plane’s runway.
“It’s not just the excitement of Kailua or the rest of the Windward side,” Kia‘āina said. “It comes from all over O‘ahu.”
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https://civilbeat.org/2026/07/its-your-money-125000-on-a-model-airplane-field-in-kailua/
