HONOLULU -- KITV 4 News has obtained video of a China Airlines plane that woke up many people in Waikiki Saturday morning, proving it was coming in low over Waikiki.

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Ted Smith, who is visiting the islands from Iowa, said he was thinking of the plane attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 when he swung his video camera and spotted the China Airlines 747 heading for the high rises of Waikiki.

"(I) looked up and it was just gliding in nice and pretty and I thought this is nice and then it didn't sound right," Smith said. "It was winding up, you know how they sound and when it got close enough I heard the roar of the engines."

"Did it look to you like buildings were in danger from this plane?" KITV 4 News reporter Daryl Huff asked.

"Yeah, it did for second," Smith said.

Smith was standing on Kuhio Beach, at just before dawn Saturday. His video of the waves inadvertantly shows the landings lights of the China Airlines plane approaching Diamond Head. A few seconds later, he heard the plane behind him over the hotels.

"It just happened that fast. I really didn't have time to think about anything," Smith said.

He said the noise made him worry that the plane was too low.

"You know when a jet takes off and the whole airport shakes? And that's exactly what it was. It wasn't gliding down any more it was obviously trying to get some altitude," Smith said.

That's when the 9/11 terror attacks came to mind.

Relieved it didn't hit anything, Smith didn't think about it much. He assumed that the airport was right down the street.

"I didn't give it a thought until I just heard a quick mention of it on the news, your guys' (KITV 4) news," Smith said.

Veteran flight instructor Phil Olsen was less alarmed by the image, although he said the flight path shown on the video very unusual. He said most commercial pilots follow a chart showing a course almost entirely over water.

"This is the commonly accepted course for all of the Kona condition approaches to Honolulu," Olsen said.

Olsen used a simulator to show KITV 4 News how pilots can program their instruments to follow an electronic beacon to the airport.

"The airplane is telling me that I am six miles from touchdown and I am a little right of course," Olsen said.

The China Airlines 747 was far right of course, perhaps as much as a mile off, but if the pilot was cleared to use visual flight rules he could choose any course and fly at any safe altitude.

"It's entirely possible that he didn't break any rules," Olsen said.

The FAA continues to investigate the China Airlines flight.