Seems to me that Hong Kong ATC has a big standardization problem. The number of different ways we are handled and different phraseology/instructions we are given keeps you second-guessing what is coming next. Funny how often controllers ask US what speed we have been assigned. Don't you guys talk to each other?
Find it especially strange the way we are often turned left off the STAR from TD to follow someone who is being short cut from the west (SIERA ?). Is that some sort of strange priority? Why wouldn't you leave us on the STAR and put the guy who is getting the short cut behind? We got a heading of 190 from GUAVA the other day for about 10 miles. 190?? I mean how does the arrival sequence get so far out of whack that you have to do that? There must be some serious queue-jumping going on to need that many extra track miles at such a late stage. I figure we had about 25 track miles added by the time we turned back up, when less than 40 miles from touch. That is some serious misjudgement.
Anyway back to the thread- 3 instructions seems good to me- heading, speed, altitude. No problem.
