Once, it was the most dangerous airport in the world.
I was reminded of it yesterday, while researching the third book in my Madeleine Fox crime series.
The novel is set in the nineties, just before the British gave up control of the colony.
Maddy leaves London to transfer to a serious crimes squad in the Royal Hong Kong police force.
In those days Hong Kong was serviced by the now legendary Kai Tak airport.
The airport features in the plot of the new story.
Just landing there required pilots to navigate the most extraordinary flight path in commercial aviation at that time.
It was white knuckle ride like no other.
It started with a descent heading northeast, passing over Lantau island and the Hong Kong harbor, and then over the district of Western Kowloon.
all that is left of the checkerboard today
photo: tksteven
Pilots required an Instrument Guidance System, known as IGS 13.
A huge aviation orange and white checkerboard on a small hill in Kowloon Tsai Park was used as a visual reference point on the final approach.
At this point, just two nautical miles from touchdown, the aircraft entered the final right turn of 47° at a height of about 650 feet and exited the turn at a height of just 140 feet to line up with the runway.
Pilots called it the Hong Kong Turn.
Unofficially it was known as the Kai Tak Heart Attack.
Pilots had to be individually certified to land there. One of the reasons for this was that after sighting checkerboard hill they had to ignore the IGS.
Manuals warned that following the IGS after passing the Middle Marker would “result in the loss of terrain clearance.”
In other words, they would crash into Mongkok, one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
I remember once staring out of the window of my Cathay Pacific 747 on its final approach and seeing a Cantonese man in a white vest doing his ironing in his top storey apartment.
He was watching a Cantonese soap opera on television.
I swear he winked and waved at me.
Those days are sadly no more.
Today’s there’s this wimpy landing at the new airport out at Chek Lap Kok; no white knuckle turn, no squeezing in between apartment buildings, no markers barely visible through the fog.
Jeez, I could land the damned thing.
These days the guy doing his ironing has no one to wave to. I wonder if he misses me?
Here’s a great video that gives you some idea of Kai Tak’s lost pleasures. Personally I love the Korean Air 747 that almost lands sideways on to the runway, makes a last minute adjustment and touches down on two wheels.
But you choose your own favorite.
These are the first two Maddy Fox thrillers. Three and four will be out soon!
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May 10, 2015 at 1:02 am
Looks like a crazy adventure! We flew in and out of parts of Panama and white knuckled it. Between short landing strips and tall mountains, it was pretty crazy in those packed small planes.
May 11, 2015 at 9:38 pm
Panama! That sounds like a lot of fun … you’ve done some great living Suzie!
May 10, 2015 at 3:15 am
Colin! I bet that guy misses you! My father would have loved this! This is what he considered “flying”, (along with my not-very-talented pilot mom) and what I considered something akin to a bad road trip! That being said, my heart does go pitty-pat at the moves these pilots make in these huge planes. The first up, the 707, seems hardly adroit enough to make that turn, yet does so beautifully! A true thrill to watch! Along kinda sorta the same lines, retired aeronautics engineers make wonderful bows for non-fretted string instruments because of the “wing” shape of the bow. I have the heaviest bow ever for a violin/viola at 74 grams, yet it plays with such ease and still gives me the power to dig in — Shostakovich’s was awesome and the praise is still flowing. I’m a true ham. I always turn it back around to music. I do love flying, but that whole leaving the ground thing kind of kills it for me. My father’s heart would soar at this; thanks for the memories! Mary
May 11, 2015 at 9:39 pm
I love your passion for music - do you have any videos of one of your solos? Love to post one on here!
May 12, 2015 at 3:24 am
Colin, at this juncture, I do not have any videos of my solo playing. I was actually sidelined for 9 years with a motor disorder (familial or essential tremor) until just this past August, when I successfully auditioned for and won a spot in the Tampa Bay Symphony. At that time, I had been receiving successful treatment for two years for the disorder, which for some odd reason, all the quack-y neuros in Tampa thought was strictly in my head. BUT, I found this superb neurologist of the Parkinson’s Disease specialty variety and she successfully diagnosed and began treatment of this horrible tremor I had developed over the past two decades. I only had to wait for a sign; I got one. The Tampa Bay Symphony announced auditions for this season just past in August of 2014. On the list was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; an odd choice for violas, and actually, there were no active open viola positions at that time.
Well, I figured the only thing they could do was tell me no, they couldn’t kill me, or eat me. Beethoven and I go back a long way, A real long way, like, to the day of my birth; we share the same birthday and the same passion for music. That ineffable search for the best in humankind, and the highest expression, although, like Beethoven, I too, am a horse’s ass. His sayings are priceless and often funny, but my favorite is “To play a wrong note is forgivable, but to play without passion, is inexcusable.” I would also venture to say that applied to life as well. I will scratch around here and find a recording, or make a video. It should be known that my partner-in-crime, or my better half (my viola) was built only 10 years after Beethoven died. I am fortunate indeed. I’ll see what I can find for you and I am honored! Mary
May 12, 2015 at 11:04 am
Yes, please do. The honour would be all mine.