Aviation Specials – May 2018

HONG KONG KAI TAKHONG KONG KAI TAK

Approach

As we came over the Pacifi c or the South

China Sea, the approach started as it would

at any other major airport. There were

plenty of things to do – work out the landing

speeds and weights, select the frequencies

on the radios and navigation aids and begin

to confi gure the aircraft for the approach.

Air traffi c control would usually route

us to the Cheung Chau VOR navigation

beacon southwest of Hong Kong Island

and southeast of Lantau Island (near

Check Lap Kok which eventually replaced

Kai Tak) at 8,000ft. If there was any delay

we’d be put into the hold, but once we’d

been sequenced with the other inbound

traffi c we’d leave on a heading of 270o at

6,000ft. Seven miles on we passed directly

to the south of the Sha Lo Wan NDB [non-

directional beacon] on the southern part

of Lantau. From there we’d make a right

turn onto a 045o heading while descending

to 4,500ft. That took us about 15 nautical

miles from the airport, where we’d make

another turn onto the 088o inbound track,

and we’d fl y this for most of the rest of the

approach. If the weather was clear we’d

catch glimpses of the numerous fi shing

junks and ocean freighters in Victoria

Harbour, then Stonecu ers Island, but all

too often we were in the clouds. Ahead

was the Kowloon Peninsula and the high-

rise blocks that represented so much of the

city’s character, while Hong Kong Island

was off to our right. Even when we could

see this incredible vista we had li le time to

appreciate it – we were concentrating on

maintaining our heading and height as we

slipped earthward over one of the world’s

most congested but stunning cities.

ABOVE LEFT: A view of Kowloon from the window of a BOAC Boeing

707-436. (Wikimedia Commons / Clint Groves)

Kai Tak in its glory days, seen from a hill to the north of the airport.

(AirTeamImages.com / Daryl Chapman)

Extreme Airports // 45

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