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Breathtaking photos of Hong Kong airport glory days

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  1. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Watercooler:
    It may seem scary from the passenger's perspective, but actually that classic Kai Tak landing to runway 13 (the one from the west, coming in over Kowloon) was reasonably safe, statistically speaking. There were no crashes over Kowloon on approach to Kai Tak from 1951 to 1998, the year the airport was closed (and thankfully so, the no. of fatalities involved with a plane crash into the densely populated Kowloon city would be too horrific to imagine). The few crashes on approach before that ended up crashing into the hills around Lion Rock as opposed to hitting the city streets below.

    The more recent landing crashes that happen at Kai Tak were planes overshooting the runway and sliding into the harbour. A CAAC trident, (as the airline was then known, before splitting into the major Chinese carriers we know today), a Lufthansa 747 in 1983 and several China Airlines aircraft (the Taiwan-based carrier, they had a rotten safety record since it's inception until relatively recently):

    http://gwulo.com/node/6179

    Contrary to what some in the media were saying, Kai Tak was closed not because it was deemed too dangerous, but because the air traffic volume had gone way pass the capacity limit of the airport. And with the airport unable to expand (since Kai Tak was surrounded by urban areas), Chep Lap Kok was build.
    Also into the harbour: The Thai International Airways flight in 1967 with 24 deaths and before that the US Marines Hercules in 1965 with 59 deaths.

  2. #32

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    Does anyone know what the weather standards were for allowing flights in/out of Kai Tak? The always-reliable Wikipedia says that the runway 13 approach was engineered that way because of the usual wind patterns, but a few people have already mentioned on this thread that planes had to go around and try landing again in bad weather. That landing looks hairy enough on a sunny day; trying it at even a T3 seems like it would be rough!


  3. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Claire ex-ax:
    Can't see the link. Do you have it?
    Okay, found it. Mr Chapman, right?

  4. #34

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fiona in HKG:
    Also into the harbour: The Thai International Airways flight in 1967 with 24 deaths and before that the US Marines Hercules in 1965 with 59 deaths.
    Yup, in Thai's case, it was pilot error, and the Hercule's case it was prop (mechanical) failure immediately after takeoff. The Thai aircraft was trying to land in a typhoon, compounded by pilot misjudgement. In the Herc's case, the location of kai tak had nothing to do with the crash, it could happen anywhere.

  5. #35

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    And yes, he's still around. (Thought he moved to the new place before '06 though.)
    Angus International
    The guy is on the forums... but not seen a login since Dec 2012.
    Last edited by shri; 14-06-2013 at 06:38 PM.

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