Kai Tak - really as spectacular as they say ?

[Invaribly]

Well...is it ,and if so i would be interested in some interesting sites for good photos(apart from airliners.net).
Did anyone out there ever exceed the 47 degree bank by much and if so how much.
Also what is the most tough/difficult airport to land in these days ,that deals with a regular flow of commercial traffic?Is Mexico city ,La gaurdia and National as bad as they say.
Finally ,is there an official list out there
that ranks the top 10 most 'challenging'airports?
cheers.

[Superpilot]

A 47 degree bank? Hell no!!! :)

http://www.pfdteam.com/images/hkgchart.jpg

http://avsim.com/pages/0799/aeti/13view.jpg

This is about a 47 degree turn, and rarely, depending upon local wind conditions, would it require more than a 20 degree banked turn.

So the turn from checker to the runway was 47 degrees (is that what you meant?)

[This message has been edited by Superpilot (edited 22 May 2001).]

[wxjedi]

Used to fly into London City and it is a nightmare on a bad gusty day. Its not supposed to be pretty in there is just a matter of gettin it on and stoppin.

[DeltaTango]

why 47?
LOC is at 088track to RWY13. That would make it a 42 degree turn but the actuall degrees you would have to turn would deppend on the wind.
If you were doing this approach would mean (most likely) that the wind was comming from the suuth(ish), so because of crabb the actuall turn would be smaller....?!?!?!?

Only my understanding of the chart-don't shoot me :)

DT

[SE7EN]

136-88 = 48 degrees. If the wind was from the South, the amount of turn would be greater rather than lesser as suggested.
Actually, it was quite common to have 25 or 30 kts of wind from the Northwest as low as 500 ft, even when 13 was in use.
Although 13 was the more interesting approach to fly, greater turbulence was often experienced with rwy 31. The go-around was also more critical on 31 due to high terrain.
Kai Tak was not a particularly dangerous airport to operate in to but could show up some weaknesses in a Pilot's handling. The challenge and the fun were in trying to make a 'perfect' approach.

[Biggles Flies Undone]

As SLF (and a bit of an aviation enthusiast) I always looked forward to landings at Kai Tak. The BA/Cathay flights from LHR generally arrived late afternoon/early evening and the view of HK was spectacular. Once had an arrival coinciding with a navaid prob at the airport which entailed a scenic route over the island and harbour - absolute bliss :)

Also, 'local' departures from Kai Tak involved a walk along a glass roofed causeway with a direct view of the final approach. The sight of a 747 in a right turn with gear and flaps down immediately before landing flare was captivating - I've spent hours there :)

Dons anorak and sneaks away

[TwoDogs]

Plenty of photos of Kai Tak here.

http://home.netvigator.com/~pashford

[737TG]

Check this out http://www.aviationpics.de/app/app.htm