Tales from Kai Tak

[John MacCalman]

Hiya Folks,

I had previously made available to the aviation community the radio doucumentary I produced for Radio Clyde back 1998 about flying down the IGS 13 to land at Kai Tak.

I left Radio Clyde in July 2007, and sad to say they no longer host the audio in their archives. Fortunately I have subsequently found new hosting and also given permission to some creative folks to add sim video to the audio.

Some folk working on a new Flight Sim program for Kai Tak have done some magic with my audio by adding flight sim visuals to it, under the title Kai Tak Reloaded.


Check Kai Tak Reloaded here (http://aviation.narain.com/9dragons/videos/kai_tak_reloaded.html) Kai Tak Reloaded (http://aviation.narain.com/9dragons/videos/kai_tak_reloaded.html)

The radio documentary can be heard in full here (http://aviation.narain.com/9dragons/videos/tales_from_kai_tak.m3u) http://aviation.narain.com/9dragons/videos/tales_from_kai_tak.m3u


The computer graphics imaging (cgi)was done by these guys (http://www.milehighproductions.cwhnetworks.com/videos_page.html)Videos Page (http://www.milehighproductions.cwhnetworks.com/videos_page.html)


and if you want to download the Kai Tak Reloaded video you can do it here
(http://voz-ai.org/kaitak/videos/KAI_TAK_RELOADEDHD.zip)http://voz-ai.org/kaitak/videos/KAI_TAK_RELOADEDHD.zip




If any of the folk you helped me make the show are still around I'd love to hear from them. Also please post any comments on the show and memories about the IGS 13 approach here on pprune.

Thanks to eveyone involved in Hong Kong aviation who made the show possible specially British Airways and Cathay Pacific for the flight deck access. Also thanks to those at the Northwest Airlines flight simulator training centre, NATCO, in Minneapolis and to all flight crews, active and retired, military,cargo and passenger, from many different organisations around the world. A special thanks also to the ATC staff at Hong Kong Tower and Approach Radar. The documentary would never have been made without the help from all mentioned.


John MacCalman
Glasgow, Scotland

PS I am still researching my Micronesia Avaition TV documentary but funding is the main stumbling block! :)

[2 Dogs]

Hi John,

Don't know if you remember me, you sent me a copy of the Kai Tak tape back when I was working there. Unfortunately it was tossed out (along with my Oshkosh black friday tape) when my wife decided that our cassette collection was taking up valuable CD storage space.
Having spotted your PPRuNe article I can now download it, burn it to CD and save it to listen to in my not too distant old age :)

Thanks.

Paul Ashford
www.2-dogz.com (http://www.2-dogz.com)

[Basil]

From the website:
You had to sit on the left hand side of the aircraft for the best view

Do we mean 'the right hand side' ?

[John MacCalman]

From the website:

Quote:
You had to sit on the left hand side of the aircraft for the best view

Do we mean 'the right hand side' ?

I suppose this is all a personal view but on the left hand side of the aircraft you were closest to the houses and washing lines and of course the chequered board.

Of course the best view was probably from the flight deck.

[Basil]

Off the IGS there was a right turn to finals so the right wing went down and presented the RHS pax with a view of the rooftops - the LHS pax saw the sky - whilst we were getting "Terrain!" (or was it "Sinkrate!"), probably both, from the double decker bus on the flyover :)

[ClearedIGS]

Hi John,
Thanks for the link. As an Approach and Tower controller at Kai Tak for 12 years, it certainly brought back some great memories. I particularly enjoyed the comments by pilots on Hong Kong ATC. The airspace here in Hong Kong is still complicated but Chek Lap Kok aerodrome is boring after Kai Tak.
Thanks again.

[John MacCalman]

As an Approach and Tower controller at Kai Tak for 12 years, it certainly brought back some great memories.
There was much fascinating info that I didn't put in the show as it was primarily for consumption by a non-aviation audience.
Oner of these was they way pilots and ATC recognised the capabilities and limitations of each other. ATC knew the pilots they could trust and those who may need a little encouragement.:)

[Basil]

those who may need a little encouragement
Yes, spot of self preservation on the part of the tower staff who were a bit vulnerable to those who turned late, forgot to turn or didn't turn on a go-around :O

Also the welcome reminder when ones tracking fell below its usual impeccable :rolleyes: standard departing through the Lei Ye Mun gap.

[energie]

please allow me to appologize in advance about my ignorance
is the IGS13 a specially modified version of an ILS apporach just for kaitak runway 13?
I tried to search for IGS (instrument guidance system) but haven't found ANYTHING other than info about kai tak :(
thanks in advance!
E

[fire wall]

energie, the IGS is basically an ILS that was offset from the runway 13 centreline by 47 degrees. As a result the minima was set further back ( 620 from memory) and at this point you had to be visual otherwise execute a missed approach (which involved a turn through 47 deg to track initially an adf outbound ). If visual at the minima then the visual segment was flown with reference to strobe lights on the ground which gave a constant rate of turn to the runway threshold. Doing that plus maintaining a constant 700 ft / min rate of decent tended to work out well. It got tricky with reduced vis or strong crosswinds. Will try and dig out an old approach plate for the IGS and post it here if I can work out how.

Personally I thought the CC letdown was a more exciting approach.

John, thanks for the program....brought back some great memories.

(apologies to all if any mistakes, it has been a while)

[2 Dogs]

Energie, FireWall, the plates are available on my old website (http://www.2-dogz)
or HERE (http://www.2-dogz.com/cgi-bin/framed/1859/kaitak_photos_1.html) if you don't want to go thru the front of the website.

There are some good photos of IGS approaches too although the site hasn't been maintained for a while and some of the links are broken.



http://i18.tinypic.com/4ge42gh.jpg (http://www.2-dogz.com)

(http://www.vbulletin.com)

[Bedder believeit]

Hi John
Thanks for the memories. I worked in Kai Tak tower on a morning shift on the 6th July 1998, the last day of ops there, and then a morning shift on Approach the next day at CLK on it's first day of operations. I must say that the first day at CLK was quite interesting as we were operating a new radar system, totally rearranged airspace, and quite new procedures. We had gone through a bit of conversion training, but my colleagues and myself at CLK just had to compromise as we went along. Plenty of support from management of course.
It interets me from a Controller's point of view that as far as the flight crews were concerned, we (ATC) at Kai Tak could do no wrong, and that comes out in your interviews. However it was the same guys and gals that lugged their headsets over to the new airport in July '98, and it soon got back to the same old criticisms and niggles that one gets everywhere else. Sure, in the almost 9 years since CLK openned, some of the original Kai Tak crew have gone, and we have lot's of new local people here now, but they are still being trained and prepared mainly by people like myself. So the leopard didn't change it's spots, just the tree that it hung out in.

[sanook]

I was operating a flight from Osaka (503) a 743 on that last day. In fact we positioned a video camera onto the windshield and filmed the whole approach. Two of us have since left but the SF/O maybe still with you. There are three copies somewhere of which I have one. The weather wasn't at its best but the IGS is excellent. The USS Nimitz was in that day and we zoom the camera down to her which is quite impressive. The tape is still on VHS and I would like to edit some of the quieter moments out and burn onto a disk. Taxiing back on B1 and the bridge we kept the camera rolling and enjoyed a couple of classic arrivals before turning right over the bridge. I still watch it and use it to show friends and colleagues the infamous IGS. A real treasure.

[throw a dyce]

I got to HK in Jan 98 but never got to work operationally at Kai Tak.I thought it was a great Airport,but had reached it's sell by date.It was struggling to cope with the traffic,had a night curfew and could have wx problems.
I became one of (im)famous Gweilo Airlines,and Gweilo Regional at CLK and it was a great way to meet the rest of the controllers.It was also interesting to see how people were adapting to CLK after Kai Tak.The locals seemed to have problems changing over, but for us it was curious how they were so Kai Tak through and through.It was if you were putting down their prize puppy dog.
Anyway nice to see it remembered and I've still got my Kai Tak I.D. Proud of it,and proud to have been part of HK ATC. What a bunch..:ok: :ok: :D

[On the beach]

Throw a dyce
You never got to work operationally at CLK either - you were in the tower!!!
Aaaah, Kai Tak, that was the way to move traffic:ok:
Cheers

[forget]

I posted this earlier on the other Kai Tak thread 'I miss the old girl' on Jet Blast, but thought it may be welcomed here. Look lower left, behind the high speed launch wake, and there's a DC-8 on approach.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/Untitled-3-2.jpg

[forget]

Someone asked me to point out the chequerboard. Here.........


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/Untitled-8.jpg

[throw a dyce]

On the beach,
Ah Good Moaning Monsieur,
Dead right there.3 year paid holiday at CLK tower.I did try to use a bit of imagination,but it was always a big ''cannot''.Why 10 bucks!! Never mind at least I get radar here and pay raises as well.:ok: :D
Bon Jour now.

[Gargleblaster]

I lived in HK for a year in 1993-94 and always got myself a right hand seat when flying into Kai Tak, spectacular.

When I got there for the first time, there was a Chinese B747 in the water next to the runway with the tail blown off !

The story was that they'd either forgotten to set the autobrake, or it had gone off by itself and the PF "forgot" to apply brakes manually. Sounds incredible. Does anybody here have any good information about this mishap ?

Anyhow, the airport had to close due to tail obstructing the departure end. The story was that the airport manager simply called the SAS (no not the airline :-), who drilled holes in the tail fin and blew it off ! So typical for Hong Kong, quick and efficient.

Noone was hurt. Some passengers actually didn't realise they'd ended up in the extra-fragrant water around the airport, it all happened so "gently". Or perhaps they were used to "artistic" Kai Tak landings.

Another story was that a tug that was nearby actually sailed towards the plane, and pushed it back to the airport, as it was still floating.

[chris keeping]

Gargleblaster. I believe the accident you refer to was caused by aquaplaning. The weather was atrocious at the time, seem to remember that it was either the tail end of a typhoon, or rain squalls that preceeded one. Certaily a number of aircraft had decided to give Kai Tak a miss at the time. The tail was indeed removed by explosives, this was carried out by the bomb disposal unit of the Royal Hong Kong Police, and it needed several attempts, says something for structural integrity. You are right about the tug, it was nearby at the time of the incident, and the Captain used his initiative by nudging the aircraft towards the end of the runway, all exited without getting their feet wet!

[DanJabEarWarm]

Hi Paul (2 DOGS), How's doing!

Dan

[Cypherus]

Ok, maybe someone here might be able to offer a little help, I need copies of the original Airport parking charts for Kia Tak to update a current freeware project for FS9, tried a quick look at those on the offered sites but they always come out unreadable so cannot make the correct assignments, if anyone has copies and would be able to share them, much appreaciated.

[flyer_spotter]

I find this very interesting, maybe you guys will ike it too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTfD2pztbK0

[John MacCalman]

Hi Folks
I have recently left Radio Clyde after 33 years with the company. They made me an offer and I figured it was time to go out into the big bad freelance world as an aviation j**rn*l*st and broadcast producer. Ask any PPRuNers who know me and they should tell you that I do strive to achieve accuracy and truth. I guess I don’t have much of a future!
Anyway, to the point of this post. I have taken my documentary Tales from Kai Tak with me in an .mp3 format and I am happy to supply it to anyone who is interested in receiving a copy to keep. It is quite a large file size – 22.9MB – so you have to have big mailbox!
If PPRuNe were happy to host the audio as a podcast , I would be glad to let them do so. Moderators – is this possible?
While I still have the copyright on the show, I am happy for it to be distributed for free for educational purposes - as long as nobody is trying to make a buck out of it.
Meantime in my new freelance role I’ll be heading out to Hong Kong on 1st September to attend the Asian Aerospace Expo and Congress and will be at the congress sessions on Monday and Tuesday 3rd/4th. I’ll be in Hong Kong till Friday 7th then I plan on going to Guam for the weekend to do some research into the early years of Air Mike before heading to Singapore on the 11th Sept and on to Bangkok on 13th for 5 days.
If anybody fancies meeting up to talk about the Kai Tak days please send me a PM and I’ll give you my contact details.
I am also keen to talk to anyone who worked for Air Mike in the early years or worked on the development of air services in Micronesia for a new project I am working on.
Look forward to hearing from you.
John

[2 Dogs]

Cypherus try this - click on the Kai Tak link(checkerboard) http://www.2-dogz.com
Dan, Hi. ??? Do i know you ??

GargleBlaster photos here - click on the Kai Tak link(checkerboard) http://www.2-dogz.com

John Hope you got a good severance package. Glad to heat Kai Tak is now available as mp3. I did ask for it a while ago as the missus "disposed" of the original tape you gave me a while back.
I would love to meet and have a beer and a yarn about Kai Tak but I now avoid HK like the plague. Maybe some other time :)
Check yr pm's for my email address.

[Roundtail Jimbo]

Hey, sanook, there is a real lack of quality videos of the Kai Tak approach shot from inside the cockpit. Most of them are very poor quality, shaky, poorly lit, and not focused out the window at the key moments. I'd love to get a copy of your video since you say you had the camera on the dash the whole time. Have you had a chance to digitize it? If not, let me know and I can help you out.

[RRAAMJET]

Roundtail: I, too, have a flightdeck copy of the IGS, taken from a professionally set up camera at night on an L-1011 of CX. I flew the app. from the right seat; I seem to remember the purpose was to provide the Sim builders with an updated visual model for CX. The copy I have was given to me by mgmt after the event - it's on tape, however, haven't yet digitised it. The FE was Bruno - retired in '95 - can't remember the Capt.

I remember I was briefed to not fly wide, even though it was a crystal clear night, but fly right down to minimums and intercept the visual lead-in lights (which were not for the IGS, contrary to misconceptions, but for the visual from over the western harbour - thus they "join" the approach course from the right). The wind was calm, so that helped; normally on a clear day we'd side-step left to give a longer final segment.

The recording starts at 10000ft heading west towards Cheung-Chau. There should be a copy still with CX managers, I would have thought, or with the sim-builders (Rediffusion?).

[Roundtail Jimbo]

One would have hoped that the BBC or some other professional news outlet would have done a documentary about Kai Tak before it was scheduled to close. I've seen some BBC World video, but again the quality is not great. I've been looking around, but the only video available seems to be amateur video taken by jump seaters.

Anyway, if I can be of any help in digitizing your video, please let me know. I have a professional setup here at home.

[Clutch Cargo]

Great thread about Kai Tak. Enjoy reading it all. We have some new video on Kai Tak for flight simulation we are releasing. I will post links when ready. ay bring back some happy memories.

[cykalan]

forget:

holy smoke! stonecutters "island"!!

a while ago in a conversation about the IGS approach with a skipper and i mentioned "stonecutters island" somehow in the conversation...and the skipper jokingly said i reminded him how stonecutters was an "island"...:}

nice pic...!!

[Dixi Normus]

The next time out of CLK try tuning SC (Stone Cutter) 238 NDB and RW (377) NBD. I think one of them might still be working. However they are not in any current FMGC database of nav aids. SL (Sha Lo Wan) NDB, the lead in NDB for the IGS localizer, was replaced by the current LC NDB.

[Roundtail Jimbo]

Excellent! I bought a DVD from Air Utopia but the quality was horrible...

[chris keeping]

Great video, flyer spotter, thanks for sharing it.

[John MacCalman]

Hi Folks,


I am delighted to say I am back at Radio Clyde on a temporary assignment so I was able to check the audio store and the radio documentary TALES FROM KAI TAK (http://www.clyde2.com/Article.asp?PT=Clyde+2+Archive&id=27462) is still available on their system.

Should the web page disappear I believe you can access the audio directly through this link (http://srhdev.co.uk/loudblog/audio/emap_audio--2007-02-13-55490.wma).

I belive Clutch Cargo has also to make the documentary available through avsim.com

PM me if anyone needs a CD copy but be quick as my access to a burner may be limited.

[Clutch Cargo]

Hi John,

Marcus here (aka "Clutch"). What a nice surprise to see you here! Yes, we included your broadcast with our release of 9Dragons. It was a big hit as so many flight simulation hobbyists had never heard it before. I take it the Smithsonian finally got their copy?

Also tried to announce that here a few weeks back the release of our free scenery software, 9Dragons depicting Kai Tak in the 1990's for FS2004, and a few of our videos about it. Thought the real-world pilots would get a kick out of it shaking up a few memories. :) But for some reason they put the post in some unseen "back-water" forum... oh well.

We even have an article about it on page 3 of the Sunday edition of the South China Morning Post (January 13 edition). Lot's of emails from Hong Kong after that went out.

Just wanted to shout a howdy and say thanks again for a great broadcast.

[greywings]

Chris,

I know it is almost a year since your post, so I hope you receive this.

You are generous to a fault re. the China Airlines 744 that went for a swim in the harbour. Although you are quite right that the weather was atrocious (as it often was!), the captain made a serious boo-boo that involved either not using the autobrakes / spoilers / reversers properly, or deciding to let gravity bring the aircraft to a halt. Either way, the result was a very wet (almost new) 744, and a challenge for the Hong Kong Boys in Blue.

"'Ello. 'ello, what have we here? Sergeant Wong, hand me my explosive pack, please, and be quick about it"

The one good thing about removing the tail - as far as China Airlines management was concerned, anyway, was that the distinguishing logo was no longer visible.

(Shades of the CAAC Trident that also went for a swim, in similar weather conditions a few years earlier).

"Mister Wong (no relation to Sergeant Wong), please hand me my can of paint, thus to obscure the company markings".

Chris, if you are still instructing, do remember the day doing 'snap rolls' in the Slingsby, and other delights.

Greywings

[chris keeping]

Hello "Grey Wings" well maybe I was a tad. No I'm not instructing anymore, gave it up when Kai Tak closed. The fixed wing fleet was required to move to Sek-Kong when Kai Tak closed, and the PLA were (are?) a little bit security concious. Flying arbitarily cancelled if their helicopters were on the pads. Bit of a pain if you had organised students for the weekend, mid week flying was a no no, unlike the hospitality afforded to the club when 28 Squadron was in-situ. The Club is still at Kai Tak but is not quite the same. Michael retired a couple of years back and now spends most of his time in China. Good days though.

[greywings]

Thanks for the update, Chris.

I have been in touch with Graham Barlow and posted my email address with him.

Look foward to hearing more news!

GW

[ampan]

Sat on the left-hand side of a DC10 in 1981, scared sh*tless.

Am not a member of the Gordon Vette fanclub, but pages 191 to 196 of "Impact Erebus" provide an excellent description of what was involved.

And it wasn't uncommon to go around the Checkerboard course and be a little bit off, you often were required to do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMOCAfSMnqQ

[ampan]

"The harbour circuit at Hong Kong, which I describe below, has now been discontinued at Kai Tak with the advent of wide-bodied jets. However the IGS system which now takes you down through 600 feet still requires a manual visual approach on the final stages of the gully flight, and demands good interfacing between pilot and machine. Should this type of manoeuvring be attempted over most cities of the world, the crew would find themselves in prison. At Hong Kong, it was the only way the airport could be used in certain weather conditions.

When the wind was blowing off the Pacific towards the China land mass, the 100-tonne jet had to be swung and tightly manoeuvred for eight miles through the narrow sea channel which divides the mass of mainland Kowloon and the nearly vertical walls of Hong Kong Island. This was precision flying of a sort rarely demanded of big jets anywhere. At one early point, in the Lei Yue Mun Gap, the channel constricted to a throat less than half-a-mile wide, and the shore lights whipped past the wingtips like glinted moisture drops in a tunnel. At night, and when the cloud base was down to 1500 feet or lower, it was akin to moving at high speed through a convoluted tunnel — only without the benefit of rails. Here, surely, was the most exacting interface between man and machine; the point where a pilot became the organic cortex with nerve ends grafted on to a mass of metal moving along at 150 knots — a speed only just sufficient to give control, but uncomfortably fast for the environment or rugged coastline, ships' masts and high rise buildings. Every featherweight of pressure applied to the control yoke and rudder had to be precise, every change of flap setting and throttle applied to the second. It was a time when all that counted was the intuition, feel and the reflexive recall of a good pilot.

On let down from above 30,000 feet, the aircraft was vectored on a radio beam towards Checker Board Hill, an escarpment lit by sodium lights hard by the Kowloon runway. This beam brought the aircraft down in a long, easy descent to position it over the Tathong Channel, the south-eastern gateway to Hong Kong. The intention was to get the aircraft below the cloud base before it entered the Lei Yue Gap — into the 'tunnel'. Should the landing be from the south-east, the runway was nicely positioned two miles ahead - a few degrees turn to the right and a final alignment just before touch-down. But more often the landing was from the opposite end, Runway 13, from inland Kowloon. When Runway 13 was in use, the two pilots had to quickly establish visual references to orientate themselves as they broke cloud above the narrow gap. Then manual skill took over. They were 'eyeballing it'.

The tight twists of Victoria Harbour and the turn-around over Kowloon were navigated in a way more familiar to navigators. A series of coloured lights signalled the way, and the aircraft was lined up on these one at a time. As each light slipped beneath the nose of the machine, the aircraft was swung on course for the next, a mile-and-a-half, maybe two, ahead — 30 to 40 seconds flying time. These variously coloured lights were so critical for pilots that neon flashing lights were not allowed in the colony lest they confused or delayed recognition of a marker for a moment. But memorizing the positions and colours of these lights was only half the pilot load. They also had to memorize the different overshoot procedure for each should they inadvertently find themselves a fraction off the right heading and unable to make the exactly timed swing from one light to the next. It was memorizing for instant recall, a precise compass heading and climb-out rate — no time to ponder when flying
through a canyon at a mile every '20 seconds. And while every habitable yard of Hong Kong and Kowloon resembles a tightly packed glow worm cave at night, there was no safety in the black voids. Peaks, as abrupt as stalagmites, rear up within two miles of Runway 13's threshold, and there are unlit, high-rise buildings. Swinging low through the basin of light reflected between harbour and cloud, these granite teeth usually lay beyond the visual rim, swarthed in misty cloud.

Despite the captain's warning to passengers what to expect, words over a PA system could never adequately prepare them for the experience. Some momentarily thought the captain had taken leave of his senses as they peered transfixedly out
of the windows — upwards at apartment building balconies. As the aircraft swung more tightly into the approach, they noticed what appeared to be a wall of buildings converging on the nose of the aircraft, now bouncing and shaking only
50 per cent above stalling speed. For a few, this brief glance was enough. They stared trancelike at the carpet, lips moving in urgent communication with the powers that be. For others, the only concession allowed this unusual approach were white knuckles squeezing the arm-rest molecules into denser composition. But for most, it was spellbound unreality; a fairyland of lights on all sides, racing, ever-changing.

On the flight deck, the luxury of this fixity of viewing — to focus, relate, absorb — was only for the pilot in the jump seat, the man observing the approach. For the captain at the controls, it was only the interpretation of a peripheral blur
that enabled him to accurately position the machine. First the entry through the Gap; a careful left-hand turn, assessing and regulating his angle of bank; applying just enough back pressure on the control column to get the right radius of turn without losing height — but careful, a fraction too much back pressure and you're back in the cloud without visibility. A gradual right-hand turn, adjusting for wind drift as the lights of the North Point, Causeway and Wanchai slip past on the left. Skirting the thrusting bulk of West Point on Hong Kong Island, and rolling the machine more steeply to bring it around inside Green Island, on heading for Stone Cutters.

The aircraft should be coming around on the 50 degree arc (200 to 250 degrees true) of the flashing red directional lights on Stone Cutters Island. Ease off the back pressure fractionally to stay below that convex cloud ahead, while scanning to confirm heading, height and airspeed, and that all the landing checks, with the exception of final flap, are completed. You listen briefly to the Airport Terminal Information Service to confirm landing conditions, joining the others in the crew at the same time in trying to pick out the lighted array of aerial masts atop Stonecutters. When they show up, ease a further adjustment to put them over to the left. As the
shoreline of Kowloon comes around, power settings are adjusted to set the aircraft descent at 500 feet for the approach.

The directional flashing white lights of Cheungshwawan and Yau Yat Chuen are buried deep among the apartment buildings of Kowloon. Now the crew are scanning systematically for the flashing red lights of the Checker Board Hill. It is sighted, and the power and speed are adjusted again to bring the aircraft around to the right of the checker board towards the threshold lights. The machine has now come around almost the full 180 degrees, and is committed to the carefully regulated swing through the gully. The pilot has to try not to cut the corner to the runway, yet avoid closing in too near the rising apartment buildings, or the cliff face of the Checker Board. His senses are pitched taut, his judgments turning over, his cue sampling rate at its fastest. While the passengers are subjected to a close inspection of the drying garments poled out of apartment windows, the pilot is unconsciously using the same cues — but using the
rate at which they blurr past in his peripheral vision — to negotiate the final swing to the right through the canyon. His fixity of focus is now centered on a point about one third of the way along the runway.

If his trajectory is good, it will remain relatively stationary, though closing. The effect is not unlike watching the lights of an approaching car at night on a long stretch of straight road. They seem unmoving, but then at the last moment they flash away at a tangent. But a car driver is not coping with wind shear, drift and varying sink rates.

The co-pilot will be calling speeds, descent rates, altitude - and will have set up the overshoot beacons, headings and heights should the aircraft not key into the narrow slot for landing, or (unusually) a sudden wind change occur. A final thought. It could be nicely on trajectory, but a fraction too much speed and it will overrun the far sea wall. Too slow, and there will be a stall. You will help take in the washing.

But you reach the right point to initiate your flare. Power levers are snapped into reverse as the gear touches. A quick glance to see the nose is aligned with the runway centre line, and another check of the distance remaining. The nose gear touches down. Full reverse power selected, and braking as required, while the aircraft slows to 80 knots. The long taxi through the massed parking places to the docking position gives time for the pulse to slacken. You've done it many times before, but there is always the sense of pride in having your skills and judgments tested to the limits."

[ampan]

I forgot to mention that the previous extract was from Vette's book.

But it might explain why there were so few accidents in the 50 years that Kai Tak was used. Everyone entered the fray completely psyched-up for the challenge.

[John MacCalman]

Hi Folks

The link to the radio documentary audio on the Radio Clyde website no longer works, so I've made it available to other websites to host and my offer to PPrune to host it still stands!

The best hosting for the show is currently at The Aviator - 9 Dragons Kai Tak website (http://aviation.narain.com/9dragons/index.html)

Well worth checking out the Kai Tak Reloaded and the Enter the 9 Dragons Videos.

The Aviator's home page is here (http://aviation.narain.com/index.html) and the direct link to the audio is here (http://aviation.narain.com/9dragons/videos/tales_from_kai_tak.m3u)

A Google search for Tales from Kai Tak may reveal other hostings.

[Kitsune]

Obviously residuals ain't what they used to be.......:rolleyes:

[CV880]

Ampan, re your extract from Vette's book about the old harbour circuit I witnessed a REVERSE harbour circuit flown by a PAL DC8 in the early 70's (probably the only one by a transport jet).
The morning PAL flight from Manila made a 31 ILS approach but had to make a late go-around due to the preceeding aircraft being slow to clear the runway. PAL asked ATC for permission to make a reverse harbour circuit which was granted after some hesitation. I went out to watch and saw the PAL DC8 flying up the harbour (west to east) close to the HK Island hills then making a descending steep left turn around Quarry Bay and landing on 31. The landing was rather firm thumping the left main gear on first not being able to get the wings level before touchdown. Tower requested the crew to remain at the aircraft as ATC wanted to talk to them. Grey haired old Filipino Captain came out smiling.

[VR-HFX]

CV880

Maybe you also caught the CV880 doing a 13 departure..inside Kwun Tong and back on 13.

Pappy McBride (an old Delta guy brought out to show what the a/c could do) did it I am reliably told. Circa around 1968.

[Runway101]

The government has unveiled details of its long-awaited plan to develop the Kai Tak site in Kowloon. It will be built in three phases - at a total cost of HK103-billion. But the entire project is not scheduled for completion until 2021. The opening phase will see the construction of new public housing, government offices and the first berth of a new cruise terminal. One of the last parts to be built will be a 45,000 seat sports stadium. The government will seek an initial HK$3.3 billion in funding in the second quarter of this year.

From RTHK Radio today.
Govt go-ahead for HK$103bln Kai Tak plan (http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20090114/news_20090114_56_552149.htm)

[pjac]

Not to mention some grandees continuing the IGS from the obverse, eastern side of the chequer board-on types ranging from CV880s thru to 744s

[CV880]

HFX,
Before my time. I joined the HK aviation scene in early '69 but did hear tales of a CX CV880 over Choi Hung but seem to recall this was a training incident (at least as told to me). I do not recall hearing of the event you describe although it was all a long time ago now.
I also witnessed a "near thing" in the pre IGS days when an MSA 737 missed the turn at the checker board in a thunderstorm at night. Fortunately the tower controller saw the landing lights heading toward Choi Hung and called "overshoot and turn right immediately" in a very urgent tone. Hearing that transmission, I stepped out into the rain to see what was going on and had the 737 go right over me at bay 5.
The MSA crew elected a tailwind ILS on 31 for their next approach.
I heard later the checker board lights had fused in the thunderstorm.

[VR-HFX]

CV880

Yes it was a training flight I am relaibly informed.

There was also the Air India 707 that basically ended up in Shatin Valley in the mid-60's, exiting on the Clearwater Bay non existent SID! Very lucky they didn't end up like that RAF Hunter that went into Lion Rock in the early 60's.

Cheers

[ampan]

This has to be another addition for the software programmers: "Reverse Circuit Landing at Kai Tak".

[John MacCalman]

Technology moves on and I've now managed to upload the original radio documentary Tales from Kai Tak to a public folder on Dropbox. (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25622044/Tales%20from%20Kai%20Tak.mp3%20%281%29.mp3)

This is the link in case the one above doesn't work.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25622044/Tales%20from%20Kai%20Tak.mp3%20%281%29.mp3

[spleener]

Interesting and nostalgic stuff!
For my part, I wonder if the "chequerboard" part of the IGS/ CC approach isn't overly hyped. In a decade operating B747, L1011 and Airbus into Kai Tak, the the Chequerboard was merely a sideshow to proceedings.
The basis for this observation is a twofold relationship:
1. You tend to go where you look [Don't look at the C/Board!!]
2. You usually find it is nice to look where you are going.[Follow the visual cues to the runway]
Therefore, I found it more relevent to fly down the Loc and Glideslope until "visual" [not necessarily or usually the C/Board] and then follow my desired track over the ground:
If visual early, most found it easier to sidestep left, adjust rate of descent for the longer ground track and enjoy the benefits of intercepting the RWY 13 extended centreline earlier. [Nice in a typhoon!]. If visual at minima, you pretty much needed to follow the lead in lights - maybe all you could see! Tricky in the SW monsoon....
This is not meant as a treatise on how to fly the IGS,:O such a worthy document would flow to many pages! Suffice to say, much time was spent at many a bar arguing the pros and cons.
Nor would I wish to denigrate the role played by the beloved chequerboard! It would be enlightening to hear the opinion from older hands, who may have found the C/board more relevent. For me, there were other features that I felt more important, eg the Magistracy and the "shed" on the Kowloon city sports oval - to name but a couple.

[1200firm]

Here is the centamap link for the exact location. If you are on the upper tennis courts at Kowloon Tsai Park then it is right above you. A little faded & worn but still recognisable.

¤¤*ì¦a¹Ï www.CentaMap.com (http://hk.centamap.com/gc/home.aspx?x=837051&y=821759&sx=837051.20353&sy=821759.00958&z=4)

[Master Caution]

Well chaps - you want some Kai Tak nostalgia check this out:

Too bad it wasn't a CX Convair but Swissair will have to do. looks like a CC NDB letdown.

YouTube - Swissair Convair CV-990-"Landing Kai-Tak"-1964

And look at that Harbour water - looks positively inviting and the vis!........ I could go on :ok:

[Prince of Dzun]

Master Caution;

Best recorded RW13 approach I have ever seen. Certainly a feast of memories there and even though it was a CV990 it was a CV880 for me . Great to see those familiar friendly sights again, Cheung Chau, Green Island, Stonecutters, School Buildings, the running track on the centre of the curve and those apartments on short final that always seemed to want to get in the way of the right wing tip but never did. A pleasure to watch the gear lever put to down, to see the truck positioner sending its message, to note the three oblong green undercarriage lights and to recall that satisfying feeling of those four thrust levers that somehow seemed to fit comfortably in the palm of the hand. Also nice to look once again at the approaching touchdown point and as the wings roll level to see the runway centre line plant its self exactly in the middle of the windscreen.
Icing on the cake would have to be that lovely young lady at the foot of the
steps wearing a gorgeous clinging cheongsam. Empires have been overthrown for such. When Antoine De-Saint Exupery said "memories are hidden wealth " he was not wrong. Thanks for putting it up.

Prince of Dzun.

[John MacCalman]

I've updated the audio and video links in my first post in this thread so folks won't have to scroll through everything to find them.

[Dan Winterland]

I saw the chequerboard last week (before the smog arrived) on a Lakes departure. It looks a bit faded. As a huge part of HKG aviation history, perhaps it should be renovated?

[CV880]

At the risk of being overly pedantic the cabin shots in the Swissair CV990 video are clearly of an early model DC8 (pre -60 series). The seats and window curtains are a clear give away. The exterior views and cockpit shots are however of a CV990. I witnessed a Swissair CV990 go around on rwy 13 very early in my HKG career. Presumably a bit fast and high over Kowloon City just as I was leaving Kai Tak and a nice pull up with large wing tip vortices following the aircraft over HK Island on a lovely sunny afternoon. Someone who had flown both the CV880 and 990 once told me the 990 was quite difficult to land compared to the 880.

[Ocean Person]

On page 390 of his autobiography " North Star Over my Shoulder a Flying Life " TWA Captain Bob Buck has a few words to say about RW13 Kai Tak. He mentions Stonecutters, the Chequerboard, the tight turn over apartments with washing drying on the balconies and the satisfaction of rolling level straight down the centreline. He goes on to say-- Quote " after a long boring flight from Bangkok this stired the blood and got you up on the edge of the seat- careful but barnstorming with a Boeing 707 having old style fun. That's all gone now, with a new airport built away from these problems, just another dull airport with proper, boring approaches. But there's a brotherhood of pilots who flew in and out of Kai Tak, and when any of us come together there's lots of talk, tales and laughter." Unquote.

It's a truly good description of landing on RW 13 Kai Tak but it was necessary to actualy do it to really understand just how special it all was. Those who did it on a daily basis would know about this.

O.P.

[AnAmusedReader]

Ah, yes the good old days. Followed by a few beers in the Cathay Club (the Gay Bar doesn't deserve to be compared in the same breath) and sometimes a few more afterwards in the Aviation Club. Not forgetting the Police Mess across the road.http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/embarass.gif

[crwjerk]

" after a long boring flight from Bangkok"
I wonder how he would hack a long flight, from say............. Narita??????? ;)

[Kasompe]

Rah Rah!!!:D

[Slapshot]

It's a truly good description of landing on RW 13 Kai Tak but it was necessary to actualy do it to really understand just how special it all was. Those who did it on a daily basis would know about this.

Those of us who used to work for Dragonair were lucky enough to do it a couple times a day on some patterns!

I enjoyed that!

[Scoreboard]

I was lucky to get a bunch of approaches during my f/o training by a bunch of the best c/t captains who gave every final days approach to me....8 in all.

Last was couple of days before it closed....Damian (as everyone knows him:):):))...and as we turned finals the parking lot was full of everyone in the evening getting down there for their last photos, sea of flashes from cameras....and as we rolled final, he turned and looked at me and casually said "better not screw this up blogs......will be a lot of photographic evidence". Never forget:ok:.

and as we taxiied past the nulla...."Debrief Cathay Club....????" from the left seat.....(that was Cathay)

You godamn right there was debrief in the Cathay Club:O:O:O:O:O:O