Kauai and Maui can be two of the craziest places to land in a jet plane on earth

 I'm not exactly sure why it is that way but I'm thinking that it's because there are thousands of miles of open ocean on both sides of all the islands.

So, 3 years ago when I was on Kauai last before October 2022 we landed literally sideways until the last moment where the pilot had good reflexes or something and straightened out the plane using the peddle before we literally crashed and rolled.

Even the STewards (both male and female were discussing how close to death we came that day because landing sideways likely would have been fatal for all on board. (You cannot land sideways if you hit the ground in that position without rolling the plane and burning everyone up). So, we were very lucky we had a really good reflexive pilot who was able to instantly straighten out the plane one moment before we touched down because we were literally going to land sideways that time.

And I have taken off planes and landed planes and even soloed in a Cessna 152 and have also flown Cessna 172 and Grumman low wing planes etc. So, I know something about what happens when a plane takes off and lands and what you actually can survive and what you cannot walk away from.

Then in October we had spent a week in Kauai and were flying over to Maui and we hit terrible turbulence at around 10,000 feet in elevation over Maui and we tried to land but couldn't so we flew all the way around the island to make another attempt and landing and it worked this time. But, it was one of the bumpiest rides I have ever been in in a jet and if we were not wearing seat belts the passengers brains would have all been lodged in the ceiling of the plane it was that violent of turbulence flying that day.

So, for whatever the reason, if you have a scary experience landing or taking off from Lihue, Kauai or Kahului, Maui (both are Hawaiian Islands) don't be surprised.

But, generally speaking, Landing a plane anywhere is the hardest thing to do right for a pilot.

Any idiot can take off in a plane even without flying lessons just by reading the pilot's manual but it takes real skill to land any plane on any given day (and in a cross wind) this might not be possible without a lot of pilot training to deal with cross winds.