Kai Tak Remembered
 

:ok:Saturday, the 5th of July, is the 10th anniversary of the closure of Kai Tak. It's very sad to go to the Hong Kong Aviation Club and look across at what was once an icon in aviation and see nothing there.

I thought I would open this thread to allow all who flew or worked there, to reminisce a little about what experiences they had, good and bad.

I was privileged to work there for a total of 12 years on Approach Radar and in the Tower. For me it was part of my life I will never forget, and from the work point of view, it was also the most enjoyable.

pjac
 

I worked out of there for twenty years-when it was a 24 hour airport up to the last few years prior to closure and when I come back to HKG now and again and drive past the site, the feeling for me is quite eerie. The now total disappearance of R.A.F. Kai Tak and it's grounds, new freight area and all the buildings in that enclosure swept away and in their place, the remains of an odd concrete foundation and tufts of grass and weeds-it reminds me of the beginning of the film, "12 O'Clock High" where the former adjudant of the American bomber squadron has cycled to the base in England-after the war, to find the shell of what once was. That such a busy, vibrant place can vanish is very much a reminder of how changing and dynamic that part of the world is.

I flew out of Kai Tak for nine years. Probably the most memorable flight was the last one on the last day flying a visual approach in an A330 between Lantau and Central with all of the camera flashes and doing a late sharp right turn to line up with the runway. That A330 can really manoeuvre when you want it to!

Mind the gap, please !
 

CX 747-400 IGS HKG

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1214783114

http://simonworld.mu.nu/archives/hkfly8-thumb.bmp

This guy has some of the best photos of Kai Tak that I have ever seen.


http://http://simonworld.mu.nu/archi...fly8-thumb.bmp

The closure of Kai Tak was another nail in the coffin for HK as a cosmopolitan city
It is a shadow of what it once was, especially compared to Singapore.

HK is now just a provincial Chinese city. Unfortunately it will continue on this path to obscurity because Beijing wants this.

Kai Tak was unique in the world.