hong kong approach
a friend sent me an mpeg of a korean airlines flight landing at the old hong kong kai tak airport. click here (911k) to see it - quite a wild ride.the approach to the old airport was always difficult, requiring a steep turn to visually line up with the runway.
an old stewardess friend of mine had a friend who was on the mandarin airlines flight that rolled over at kai tak while trying to land during the beginning of a typhoon. the stewardess was sitting in the very back of the md-11 and when it rolled over she was soaked with water. at first she thought it was the aircraft going into the bay but later she realized it was from the toilets- yuck!
posted by jeremy @ 5:30:00 PM
15 Comments:
I lived in Hong Kong for four years, and always loved the landing at Kai Tak. I was terribly disappointed when they moved the airport out of the city. Flying in between skyscrapers, at the same level as some people's washing up lines, and then landing on a teeny strip of runway with nothing at the end of it but water. Great Stuff.
Your video is a great shot of a difficult landing manuver. I am not familiar with Hong Kong, but thanks for the MPEG. My blog: www.zagisis.blogspot.com, I try and post strange photos and stories as well. thnx.
I never had the "pleasure" of that landing, having only been to Hong Kong after the new airport opened.
However, and with only vague links, I did go to new York and land at JFK both before and after Sept. 11th. Before the landing was nice, very easy. I wasn't prepared for after, i didn't even think about it.
Because the planes could no long approach via manhattan, they would descend very sharply, on a very tight curve. I tell you, it was nerve wracking. t felt like every bit of the plane was whining and straining and the noise... sheesh.
I was glad to land!
Him
http://thailand.blogs.com
sofyap- how'd you like living in hong kong? i may be moving there myself in a few months. as for hairy approaches, the airport in mae hong sorn is quite a difficult one. the runway is short, undulates, and leads right into the side of a hill! there's a temple not far from the airport where you can look down over the runway and watch planes taking off below you.
zag- will be sure to check out your blog, thanks!
him- haven't landed in new york since the terrorist attacks... doesn't sound like a fun ride! not too long after the attacks there was an american airlines jet that disintegrated after it was 'over-stressed' during take-off. wonder if the change in flight patterns had something to do with it.
I was in HK for four years. Great city. I haven't been back since 1999, but it can't change that much! I'm sure you'll enjoy out. It is totally different to Bangkok. In fact it's the anti-Bangkok. You need to sharpen your elbows as you battle past people rushing down packed pavements. People are incredibly loud, all the time, and are quite happy to argue passionately in public :) Just watch the people who spit - not nice when it lands on your foot while you're wearing flip flops (i know this from personal experience).
i'm mildly terrified of air tavel, and was thankful that i didn't live in hong kong until AFTER they had completed the new airport. like sofyap says, hk is very different, but that's not all bad. i really enjoyed living there.
sofya, paul - thanks for the feedback. was feeling quite down about the prospect of moving but i have heard some good feedback among the grumblings. at first i thought i'd live near the airport in a small box and spend my weekends here. hopefully hk will prove to be more liveable than i anticipate.
Pretty cool story and just a bit scary. I feel for the poor lady in the back of the plane.
(Pushed a wrong "Push Me" before, sorry)
I was telling a ladyfiend (yes, I like to brag) about the difficult landing at the old airport. No, I haven't. Looking for some illustration I came across this great video. Cool.
this landing technique you reference is called "crabbing" by pilots, and it has a purpose.
it's to keep the wheels of a 747 from crunching under the weight of the plane and its tremendous air pressure at landing.
it's pretty damn cool, though.
I just wrote a story about the old kai tak and some plans to keep a civil aviation runway out of the new development of the airfield.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Metro/GD26Ak02.html
hi doug- interesting article! i'm assuming 'general aviation' refers to private aircraft...
where would pilots fly to- i thought that private aircraft weren't allowed in china?
For crying out loud, crabbing has nothing to do with crushing landing gear. Where on earth did you come up with THAT??? Crabbing is a technique used when landing with a crosswind so that the flight path of the aircraft is atually aligned with the runway. Every pilot that lands in a crosswind has to crab to a certain extent. It also allows for rapid loss of altitude without gaining speed because it reduces the efficiency of the wings.
Air pressure??? I promise that it does NOT push down, which would be what would "crush" the landing gear.
Sorry if I sound rude, I don't mean to be.
Virtually all "heavy" jets crab to a landing if there is a cross wind. The pilot kicks the plane out of the crab angle with the rudders at the last possible second before touchdown to ensure no side loads are imposed on the landing gear. Smaller aircraft can use a "wing low", or forward slip to a landing that avoids the huge crab, but this would leave the wing on a heavy jet scraping the ground at touchdown, hence the "crab and kick" for big jets.
hey iv lived in hong kong for 15 years and i allways used to love the kai tak landing i sue to watch the planes from my balcony i was really dissapointed when they stopped it. although last time i landed at the new airport i thought the pilot was renacting the kai tak landing. we came in 90 degrees from the runway and had to make a sharp turn right like at kai tak although all we could see was sea not buildings.
FYI, that rollover crash you mention in 1999 was at the new Chek Lap Kok airport, not at Kai Tak, which closed in 1998. Also, it was China Airlines, not Mandarin Airlines.
I was actually taxiing for take-off at Chek Lap Kok when that crash occurred. There was a typhoon and the winds were really strong, and I was thinking "this is crazy..." I saw the emergency equipment roll past and we were stuck on the taxiway for two hours...in the end I ended up stuck in Hong Kong for four days!
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