Couple of stories about the Kai Tak nullah (storm drain). In the bad old days Diamond Hill, where the nullah originated was a squatter area where much illegal sewerage dumping ended up in the nullah as did the outflow from some illegal textile dyeing factories. The nullah not only stank but was forever changing colour!
One sunny afternoon when the HK harbour was at its most fragrant, I was handling a BOAC 747 that landed on 31. On plugging in the headset the Captain asked me to witness the opening of the aft cargo door as the cabin crew had reported a nasty odour in the aft cabin on final approach and BA had recently experienced a bad spill in a rear hold that had been detected by the cabin crew. I replied wilco but I think you’ll find the foul smell is external to the aircraft. Nothing in the aft cargo hold and the Chief Purser met me at L1 door as I entered the aircraft and laughingly apologised for the false alarm having stuck his head outside and taken in the fragrant harbour. Actually, that day was the worst foul odour I can remember from the harbour.
On another occasion, BA 747 again, parked on bay 8 which put the right wingtip over the nullah. Unfortunately, the right nav light was inop on taxi in (only 1 lamp per wingtip in those days) and next sector was a night flight to Oz so what to do as no way external ladder or steps could be used. Ended up going out on the wing via R3 door and laying down with head over the nullah and carefully removed the light cover, relamped it and put the cover back without dropping anything. Much use of sticky tape to tape screw to screwdriver and screwdriver to wrist.
On another evening a HK Auxiliary Air Force chopper took off on a rescue mission only to suffer a tail rotor failure shortly after lift off crashing into Kowloon Bay just off the end of the nullah. Crew were uninjured but were held in hospital for about 3 days as a precaution to make sure they didn’t catch anything after coming down in the nullah’s outflow.
Diamond Hill was eventually cleared of squatters and illegal factories and at some point the nullah was covered over to create more ramp space.