I BACKGROUND
Bellows AFS is an inactive airfield, established in 1917. The Air Force has military jurisdiction of the property. The station covers some 1500 acres on the windward O'ahu near the southeast corner of the island. It is about a mile southeast of the Kaneohe MCAS air traffic area and an equal distance from Makapuu Point, the easternmost point on O'ahu. The site, currently on government property, is located in Waimanalo Valley, which is approximately 21/2 miles wide and 4 miles long. The valley is separated from the rest of O'ahu by the Koolau Mountains on the west and south and by Keolu Hills to the north. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the east. The total Bellows complex is located on almost flat coastal land and consists of a south complex of 3 runways and a north complex of 2 runways. The town of Waimanalo lies adjacent to the southern boundary of the property the Waimanalo residential area is about a mile further southeast. The community of Enchanted Lakes is less than a mile to the north, separated from the complex by the Keolu Hills.
II FACILITIES
Bellows AFS has five inactive runways. Three southern runways (6/24, 12/30, 3R/21L) and two northern runways (18/36 and 3L/21R). These runways are severely deteriorated and not usable by fixed wing aircraft. The station contains a communications transmitter facility. There are 27 high frequency antennae, both rotateable and fixed, occupying 577 acres. (These antenna are no longer in service and have subsequently been removed.) The antenna field obstructs all runways except 3L/24R. The Bellows Recreation Center is operated by Detachment 1, 15th Air Base Wing. The center is composed of 102 beach cottages, a small exchange and a beach club. The Recreation Center and its support facilities occupy 154 acres. The Air Force has a license agreement with the City and County of Honolulu to allow the general public to use approximately 54 acres of those acres for swimming, picnicking and camping. Such use is limited to weekends and holidays.
III MILITARY MISSION
The mission of the 15th Air Base Wing and its Detachment 1 is to maintain Bellows AFS and the Bellows Recreation Center. The two primary military missions are communications transmission and Marine Corps Training. The Communication Transmitter Facility is a large Air Force Communications antenna site. The site is operated and maintained by the 1957th Communications Group. The transmitter facility, begun in 1956, is a major communications network which includes tie-ins with the presidential communication network. The 1st Marine Brigade from Kaneohe Bay MCAS (Now Kaneohe MCBH) uses Bellows AFS extensively for combat training to include simultaneous air and amphibious beach assaults. "During 1982, the Marines trained 227 days including helicopter training on 25 of those days (200 flight hours) and amphibious training on 50 days. The Bellows AFS training site is unique due to its proximity to Kaneohe Bay and its beach access for the some 550 acres of training area.
IV BASED AIRCRAFT
Due to the deactivation of the airfield and the grown over condition of the runways and taxi ways, no aircraft are presently based at Bellows AFS. It is noteworthy that these conditions would not, in and of themselves, hinder basing helicopters at the field.
V CIVIL AIR DEMAND AND CAPACITY
The civil air demand and capacity requirements on the Island of O'ahu are based on the traffic at HIA (Honolulu International Airport's state designation HNL is the FAA designation and PHNL is the ICAO designator). The demand and capacity data contained in this section are drawn in part from a Kentron International O'ahu General Aviation Master Planning (OGAMP) Study in May 1978. Data are also drawn from the March 1980 Poamoho General Aviation Airfield Study. That study was prepared by Belt, Collins and Associates for the State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation (HDOT) Airports Division.
Hickham AFB/Honolulu International Airport is a jointly owned, jointly used facility. Indeed, the 15th Air Base Wing which owns a portion of the real estate (including part of one of the runways), also is the wing responsible for Wheeler AFB and Bellows. The military accounted for approximately 10% of the 309,000 operations recorded at HIA in 1982. The total number of operation in 1981 was approximately 339,000 operations. HIA is the only air carrier airport on the island and air carrier operations have averaged 127,000 operations over the last two calendars years. Though General Aviation operations nearly equaled air carrier operations in 1981, they were only 65%, thereof, in 1982. Air Taxi operations were approximately 72,000, on average, during the same two years. The based General Aviation aircraft exceed 400 and though they operate mainly elsewhere it is deemed advisable to deploy, if possible, two thirds of them, perhaps 1/3 windward and the remaining 1/3 to the central valley area. These General Aviation aircraft presently account for 100,000 operations at Naval Auxiliary Field Ford Island.