It is company policy to name each of our sites (internationally) after the closest airport, using the 3-digit airport code. Santa Barbara is SBA, which is quite understandable. Haleakala is labelled OGG after Kahului airport on Maui. The origin of this acronym is slightly mystifying, and the reason for it is as follows.
The designation OGG was given in honor of aviation legend Capt. Bertram J. Hogg (pronounced Hoag), who is credited for being one of the frontier pilots who helped build the airlines of today in the Pacific.
When he first began flying passengers, Hogg, a Lihue native, flew Sikorsky S-38 amphibious planes that carried eight passengers. When he flew to Kona, he would land in the bay and outrigger canoes would come out to bring in the passengers.
He also made the first inter-island commercial flight after the Pearl Harbor attack, on December 10, 1941, in a DC-3 to Maui and the Big Island.
Hogg logged his last commercial flight in 1968 in a DC-9 after 41 years in the aviation industry and 25,000 flying hours, most of it as a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines.
Capt. Hogg died March 30, 1992, at the age of 84.
The 'H' was dropped from the acronym to avoid confusion with Honolulu airport (HON), transforming what would have been HOG into OGG.
Thanks to Mark Elphick (LCOGT observatory manager for Haleakala and our man in Hawaii) for providing the information.
There are more details about our OGG observatory on our Haleakala page.
