Anyone not too busy with their peanuts, thought you might be interested in the results of my enquiries into the alleged UFO.
I wrote to both the HK Civil Aviation Dept and to Cathay Pacific, both replied in writing yesterday. The following is the gist, quotes where indicated are verbatim.
Cathay said CX 713 took off at 09:17, 15 minutes after pushing back from the ramp. The guy from operations who replied said he spoke to the Captain:
"...who recalled that they did in fact have to wait a short while prior to take-off due to Flight Level congestion on airway 202. He recalls his announcement to the passengers saying the delay was due to 'unavailability of flight levels' - and definitely not 'unidentified flying objects'! He does admit there is some similarity between the two phrases and that his diction may not have been ideal!"
Very interesting in view of the CAD's reply:
"From our records there was no report of any occurrence on 4 December 2001 as you described. However, record (sic) shows that on 3 December 2001 the departure of a Cathay Pacific Flight, CX 713 was delayed by a temporary closure of a certain portion of the airspace southwest of Hong Kong which is under the administration of China. CX 713 departed later after changing to a more southerly route.
With regard to the report on UFO, on that morning, there was an aircraft operating in Hong Kong airspace which had not submitted a flight plan as per normal practice. Such kind of traffic is commonly referred to as 'UFO' in air traffic control but it was not that kind of unidentified flying objects that would warrant scientific investigation. Information on this aircraft was passed to the flight crew of CX 713 and the resultant misinterpretation is regretted. According to our record, CX 713 was the only outbound flight that was affected by the aforesaid airspace closure."
There you have it - another one bites the dust although I shall clarify - possibly it is poor record keeping on CAD's part, and the Captain doesn't want to admit to Cathay management that he used the 'U' word.
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