Party poopers that they are, I read that the Gibraltar authorities plan to construct a road tunnel beneath the runway as part of the airport upgrading works. :P
Some technical info are too... technical for me. But, wow! I like this post a lot! I will go to this place if I hit HK one day. It's publicly accessible, right? You didn't get in by "relations", right? :P
Basically, instead of flying down towards the runway to land, you fly down towards a hill... then last-minute turn and land! Heh, sorry if it's too technical, but watch the first few YouTube videos and you'll see why it's so spectacular! :D
All of those places are publicly accessible so no I didn't have to pull any strings to get there. The Checkerboard is in a public park, the Approach Lights Building is a commercial building in the heart of Kowloon City, and where I went in Kai Tak itself is now a giant car and tour coach park which you can just wander into.
But there are plans to redevelop Kai Tak into a cruise terminal, so it's only a matter of time before whatever's left of the runway goes. In fact, parts of it have already been paved over for the coach park, so it might not last a couple of years more!
I get it now. Yes, very spectacular! And... noisy for residence near there. Pity about the redevelopment, such places are great nooks and crannies to discover in Hong Kong!
It was such an interesting read! And it's a pity that Hong Kong does not want to keep a memory of its unique airport by setting up a small museum somewhere...
Then again, I think people whose homes were directly on the path of the planes were very happy when the airport finally moved!
I was just wondering why they had to build the runway where they did! They surely had plenty of space then.
Well, Kai Tak's origins as an airport began in 1925 I think; at that time it was rather far from all the other developed areas, and the original runway alignment wasn't 13-31. We have the Japanese Occupation to thank for the uniquely placed 13-31.
There actually is a small Aviation Discovery Centre at Chek Lap Kok which has a section devoted to HK's aviation heritage (including Kai Tak), but there should really be a whole Kai Tak Museum dedicated to this amazing airport!
all this means is that airline pilots (sans ex-mil) do not know how to do visual approaches. if they were formerly carrier qualified this would be a piece of cake.
While I do agree that carrier landings are exceedingly difficult to do, it's like comparing apples and oranges. The ex-military pilots flying with me tell me it's like a totally different ball game.
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All of those places are publicly accessible so no I didn't have to pull any strings to get there. The Checkerboard is in a public park, the Approach Lights Building is a commercial building in the heart of Kowloon City, and where I went in Kai Tak itself is now a giant car and tour coach park which you can just wander into.
But there are plans to redevelop Kai Tak into a cruise terminal, so it's only a matter of time before whatever's left of the runway goes. In fact, parts of it have already been paved over for the coach park, so it might not last a couple of years more!
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Then again, I think people whose homes were directly on the path of the planes were very happy when the airport finally moved!
I was just wondering why they had to build the runway where they did! They surely had plenty of space then.
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There actually is a small Aviation Discovery Centre at Chek Lap Kok which has a section devoted to HK's aviation heritage (including Kai Tak), but there should really be a whole Kai Tak Museum dedicated to this amazing airport!
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