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Old 5th Jul 2009, 20:08
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holei13
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Germany
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Got a few ...

Two flights in particular come into my mind. First, typhoon signal 8 in Hong Kong. Still the old Kai Tak airport at that time. CX 744 approach from the mountain side. Really bumpy all the way down to the final turn. Then wind shear. Plane was dropping down fast, engines went to full thrust, go-around initiated, the runway was very close when the plane started to gain height again! Then another attempt from the same direction. Aborted approximately above Stone Cutters Island. Then out to the South China Sea and the final attempt from the sea side. Shaky, bumpy and a firm touchdown. Pilot apologized and mentioned that this was the worst he experienced so far. The same for me! As I was living on an outlying island, there was of course no more ferry service and I finally had to spend the night in one of the fancy Hong Kong hotels. With the proper typhoon price tag, of course!

Second, a flight in Indonesia with a local airline from Bandung to Semarang via Yogyakarta (Bouraq Indonesia Airlines). The twin prop was probably my age. Cockpit door was always open so I could see how the pilots were knocking at some of the instruments to get a proper reading. But even more worrying was the fact, that every time we were on the ground, means prior to the start in Bandung, then later during the stopover in Yogyakarta as well as in Semarang the tank truck was approaching the plane. The same on the way back. My best guess is that they collected the money from the ticket sales in order to pay for the fuel. All in all, sort of scary!
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