I had an opportunity to land at 13 , I was in the jump seat of 747. The Captain was a friend of mine and in the old days security wasn't such a big deal. This was one of the highlights of my life in the air.
Arrived HKG May 1977 on a Pan Am 747. It was a very exciting experience!! Weaving thru the hills, that hard right turn and drop down thru the buildings and a perfect landing
you are a hero as are thousands of pilots flying into Kai Tak ... done it 5 times as a passenger, once in a severe storm ... words are adequate to describe "the approach" .... sincere Thank-you James !!!
I visited a friend living in Hong Kong in the late 90s when the new airport was being built. Turned out we flew directly over her apartment building, and when there on the ground it was so noisy could not hear anything if a plane was coming in. It was night when I landed, and while taxing to the terminal passed several advertising billboards aimed at folks like me in planes coming in- truly a captive audience!
Was fortunate enough to have experienced this approach back in '97. I had no idea it existed at the time as it was my first trip to HK. Needless to say I was quite alarmed when we 'unexpectectly' went into a severe turn/bank as we were what seemed like mere meters over the buildings. Makes me smile when I think about it. The Kai Tak heart-attack.
Visited it many years ago. Back then it was a dual purpose airport being military and civilian because it was also a Royal Air Force station. I remember seeing Vampires lined up over in the military section.
Thank you for sharing this with us. I flew into Kai Tak many many times, as a British Airways steward. Happy memories of Hong Kong, even though it seems like a lifetime ago.
I remember as a passenger (on Philippine Airlines, or Malaysia Air) landing in Kai Tak in 1980. I was coming from Manila. When we approached HK we seem to be weaving in between the mountains like we were trying to sneak in under radar and drop bombs on the city. At one point it seems one wing was on top of the other wing the bank was so steep. Finally as we lowered you could see apartments and businesses stacked in the mountains. As we got ever lower, I kept looking for the ground/runway to come under us. It never did! It looked like we were going to land in the water, like an Alaskan ski plane. We landed but I never saw land on touch down; only when we taxied to the gates. It turns out the landing strip jutted out into the sea (South China Sea I think). Man it was fun, this was probably as close for me as a civilian to get a small bit of feel like a fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier. Then in 1981 I took off from Kai Tak at night on Cathay Pacific. During the day you see all sorts of businesses in HK. Some are major, some are small "mom and pop" stores. They ALL seem to have some bright neon sign. Many of these neon signs, when you were just walking around were just cheesy and gaudy. A small restaurant could be selling a simple fish dish, but the surrounding bright signs made it look like a carnival. This went on everywhere. While all this was gaudy at street level it provided one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen! This was during the night take off at Kai Tak. When the plane was lifting off and ascending through the mountains, I saw this amazing light show. It was as though I was a bug flying up and up through a Christmas tree, like I was entering a fourth or even fifth dimension! Layer upon layer of those mountains were lit up almost to the top including apartment buildings. All these bright and multicolored lights were on both sides of the plane, not just on one side. I wanted to ask the pilot to circle around HK and do it all over again! I will never forget that sight, even though it was all man-made. I haven't been to HK in years, and know the airport has moved, and I sometimes wonder if the new airport offers those kind of views. In any case the Old Kai Tak airport was truly an amusement park ride.
@@cyderandsilky >Indeed, imagine a fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the black ocean with no "lighthouse mountains" to act as a guide...just Darth Vader's laser sword lying there to land on! I think at one time (not really sure) that Kai Tak didn't allow night flights. Glad I got to take off from there when I did.
@@delstanley1349 No midnight flight only, but it was about the noise. There were leading lights on top of buildings to guide the planes to Checkerboard. Before those leading lights installed I really don’t know how the pilot can find the way.
Thank you for sharing this with us. Landing there on June 30 1997 was sooo exciting. I recall banking heavily between apartment blocks. I looked out my (right side) window to peer into the eyes of a mum who was washing up a plate at the sink. The span between us was only about 50 metres. I can still clearly visualize the moment in my memory. I love Hong Kong! Australia
I lived on an island called Cheung Chou. It was the first landmark that the pilots had to seek. Once the found the island, the had to look straight to find the Green Island with a light house. When the reached the light house, they had to break left hard to find the checker board. When they saw the board, they had to break hard right, then they would see the runway.
Had to go so Singapore for business and had a dream before leaving about looking out the window and almost directly into office buildings on landing. Went from LAX to Narita then Kai Tak and then to Singapore. When we made our final approach there it was just like the dream as we banked in to landing at Kai Tak. What a ride!
I once rode on a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight (1980s) into Kai Tak with a senior official of HKG’s civil disaster planning and management agency who recounted about the number of body bags that were stock piled in the tragic event that an inbound wide body aircraft collided into a high rise apartment complex. This was long before the events of 9-11 and the WTCenter collapse. An arriving transoceanic aircraft would have consumed most of its fuel load.
Well done this video, old school. Note the KLM simulator! A maintenance fiasco it was , originally built as a 747-200 sim and later modified to -300 updates. Frequent breaks during a sim session to re boot. The approach required good preparation. Especially after a long flight you really had to be on your toes with fatigue. Tailwind on base could really mess things up and thermal activity. But really just came down to pure handling skills . Thanks for taking the time to put this together.
Wasn’t so lucky for the China Airlines B747-400. Slid right off the end of the runway in a storm. The airport authority had to blow the vertices stabilizer off so aircraft could land and takeoff during the salvage operation.
FWIW, I believe the checkerboard as a visual approach cue was in use at least as early as the early 1960s. I have a BOAC booklet "Flying the Boeing 707" from the early 60's (at least) that showed the checkerboard in use then.
I was a kid living in HK and the planes for a 4/5 ur old were no big deal. Had quite a few landings/takeoffs at Kai Tak. As an adult in the Forces I got to experience landing whilst in cockpit of a VC 10! Just awesome! RIP Kai Tak!
Back in the late 90s, I got to sit on jump seat in the cockpit of a Cathay Pacific 747 during a night landing. The captain said you just follow the strobes on top of the buildings to the checkerboard. When the checkerboard filled up the windscreen, turn right. Runway 13 was right there. They made it look easy. I miss Kai Tak, but it was small. No way it could handle the volume of traffic that it's replacement, Chep Lak Kok handles.
My introduction to being based out in Hong Kong for three years was the checker board approach. Looking out the window at the Chinese man sat on his balcony eating his bowl of rice.
What a surreal experience it was to be a passenger flying into Kai Tak. I felt as though I could pull the laundry hanging to dry on apartment balconies; we were so close! Kudos to you and other pilots for providing safe and magical travel experiences. Love your vid ;)
+ded maroz thanks for the nice comment. You really had to be there, to realize how close you came to those apartment buildings. Glad you enjoyed the video thanks for watching. James
Thanks for this brilliant contribution. Was lucky enough to have had five landings as a passenger - of course on the right side. Later I tried it on my PC and after numerous attempts it finally worked - what a great feeling !!
Thank you for the video It is very hard for general public to understand how HARD it was to land in Kai Tak airport I remember landing in early 90's in the eve of typhoon It was hairy as passenger I can't imagine how the pilot handle it Arrived several times in kai tak in 80's n 90's Always amazed you can look into the apartment window and see what they have for dinner 😀 Landed in new airport several times since New airport is an order of magnitude easier I think 😀 Just come back from hongkong last week
Obviously you have been into Kai Tak with the comment -"Always amazed you can look into the apartment window and see what they have for dinner" Thanks James
My mother and step father lived in HK from 1984 until 1996. I flew into Kai Tak quite often. Mostly landing at night after traveling from Narita (Tokyo) and Detroit or NYC. Incredible bank just before landing, seeing people in their homes below.
Great video! A legendary approach. A friend of mine had worked as a cathay pacific's captain wayback in the 90's and he Said It was always a hair-raising landing !! Thanks for the upload
The cruise ship terminal is located on the old runway now. In the future when it’s safe to travel by cruise ship again after the Coronavirus outbreak is contained, you may visit HK again by cruise ship and it will bring you straight to the old Kai Tak runway!
A 300m section of the original runway still remains intact (with markings), beside the cruise terminal. I'm glad to have walked on it (fortunately the gate was open!)
I flew Cathay a few times in the eighties and nineties. Always amazed me how the pilots could make those super difficult landings. It was always scary to see the high-rise buildings right next to the wing as one approached the Kai Tak runway. Always kept my fingers crossed. 😀. Nice comments.
Even scarier to live underneath the flight path! As the son of a soldier, I used to live in Osborn Barracks on Waterloo Road (just in front of the bottom left of the blue circle at 03:27 ). I could see the checkrboard from the barracks and could walk to Kai Tak in 20 minutes, even allowing for crossing all roads and dodging the traffic. It got to the point where I could tell, without looking up, the airline, the type of aircraft and the engines mounted on the aircraft. Flights were that frewuent. as well as the engines sounding different one model from another, the way different airlines flew the approach meant that (at the time) I could differentiate between airlines which used the same type of engine! And, no, it wasn't something I consciously tried to learn. I also lived in what was then Lyemun Barracks on the eastern end of Hong Kong islnd. Aircraft would normally take off and head out over Lyemun Gap - the bit you can see at the end of the runway between the island and the mainland. So I got to see them coming and going! Twenty years before this period, I was born in Hong Kong. I travelled there in utero on a Bristol Britannia (the largest ircraft allowed to land there at the time) and travelled back to the UK prior to my Dad being posted in Germany and Cyprus multiple times on another Bristol Britannia three years later. The sight of that beast late at night under the floodlights of Kai Tak airport in 1967 when I was just three years old is something I have never forgotten. Those were the days, of course, when you walked out onto the apron to board. It's odd to think that I may have looked up and actually seen Mr. Weatherly flying overhead. Oh yes: and that enclosed area on the land side of the airport ... it stank from all the raw sewage that poured into the water there. You could smell it from inside the aircraft as it finished its run along the runway.
My first trip to the far Est by 1990 was Hong Kong for buisness i was 33 and nobody told me how was Kai Tak landing so i thought the plane was crashing down the building at first It was an amazing experience for me ! (a french Kai Tak airport fan )
Very true !! I made lots of landings there in the 747 and none were relaxing. Check out more of my 747 videos at th-cam.com/play/PLHWhYW-XLnzCdETqRqFcXQiaeHV_4j0yh.html James Weatherly
My father was a flight attendant for China Airlines from the late 70's to the late 90's. He knew the pilots as well as several crew members of the China Airlines flight that made the splash into Victoria Harbor. As for the captain, well lets just say management was not happy that a brand new $200 million dollar 747 was trashed after only being in service for three months.
It must have been pretty surreal for you seeing a 747 bobbing up and down in the waves. Yea China Airlines was not the best role model for safety back then, I think the Nagoya crash that happened a year after the Hong Kong overrun and the similar crash in Taoyuan couple of years later are one of the main reasons my dad decided not to fly anymore and move the family to the States.
I flew the Delta MD11 into Kai Tak. I took the last flight in 1996. It was an interesting approach for sure. The most challenging was doing it at night with some weather. It could be hard to pick the runway out with all the other city lights. Great fun.
Nice video James. I only did it in the DC8, by the time I transitioned to the 74 the place was closed. Many memories of trying to be better each time I did the IGS 13. I think they should keep the checkerboards painted for nostalgia purposes. Hello from an Orion Air shipmate.
Great to hear from you Kevin. Hope all is well. A few years back I took a new FO out to see the checkerboard up close. It was very faded and barely visible. Thanks for the nice comment. James PS - Don't forget to join my family of subscribers that way I can give advance notice about my next videos. www.jtweatherly.com/join-our-family-of-subcribers/
I flew into this airport in 1964 but we landed on 31 and as I looked out the window I pulled my feet up thinking they were going to get wet, because all you saw was water until the wheels hit the ground. But there was a lot of talk about that landing on 13.
Hi 👋 yes we went to Hong Kong 🇭🇰 in December 1996 just for Chris Packham took over we had a great time in Hong Kong 🇭🇰🌏✈️🛬🛫👍👍😁😁 & keep up the good work MR 🍺🍺🍺🍺
yeah - the memories:)) and that china airlines 744 hitting the drink - i was actually on that same plane a couple years prior on a hop to taipei - midnight departure (already 2 hours late due to engine problems they said) - we finally board for the hour long trip - 30 mins into the flight, a huge bang and sudden nose pitch up around 40k ft - plane then went into freefall - no doubt the plane stalled after whatever it hit (or whatever lol) - and China Airlines had such a bad reputation for safety - my friend and i pretty much said "see you in the next life". The decent was rapid and literally within a few minutes we were around 15k ft - then a few minutes later, we landed at taipei. I said to my travel colleague - "not flying with that lot again" - so he booked another ticket for my return home (sydney) on Cathay. Then on future trips into HK, I saw that overshot runway incident on the news - i tell ya, i was NOT surprised hahahaha - because i remember that night the weather was raining (perhaps typhoon?)...and the pilot decided to land anyway?? So in other words the incident could have been avoided - and knowing the taiwanese as somewhat negligent safety wise in lots of areas, my last trip to taipei was when i decided enough was enough after experiencing an earthquake of around 6 on the richter - being on the top floor of an office building - again around 1 am - the shock of that leaving a mental scar for a few years of not wanting to walk inside another tall building......like i eventually got over the issue years later.... but still:)) As soon as the quake stopped - construction workers digging out a subway literally just went straight back to work lol. Thats when it dawned on me Taiwan was living on borrowed time....and so i never returned. Future trips just had me do my work in HK instead - though the checker board was always a thrill, especially if u got a window seat peering into peoples apts etc on the way round that hard right Uturn almost - hahahaha - but mind you the direction of the runway did change directions and i always wondered why the CB approach stayed as compared to the less eventful harbour side approach.....probably weather might have determined which way to arrive, or depart. tnx for sharing the experience:)
Awesome share. I remember the incident with China Airlines. They lost an engine with the autopilot on and then the airplane lost control and "fell out of the sky". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006 Not a fun ride for you. James
no not that incident - mine happened after that one (1990/1?) - and i think they purposely kept it hushed - the plane was a 744 which was the only one in their fleet at the time ( a new plane) - my incident was on the HK to Taipei leg. That one to LA I only found about years later and again i wasnt surprised lol
My memory of landing there in 1968 was that the approach path was the mirror image of this 'checkerboard' approach - i.e. our plane (a DC8 perhaps) banked steeply left immediately before landing. The pilots hit reverse thrust while the plane was still airborne, and the plane dropped like a stone. When we hit I thought we would see the undercarriage appear through the top of the wings, it was that hard.
Hi James, I just came across this video and loved the old photos. I was JUST old enough to remember flying into Kai Tak twice as a child, and now that I'm older and love playing flight simulators, this has got to be one of my favourite landings! Thank you for sharing the photos. Would love to hear more about your experiences with the old Kai Tak though! And any tips for flying into it on my sim please? =P
Glad you enjoyed the video! Others have asked about flying the sim into Kai Tak. I may try to do a video on that in 2018. Thanks for the suggestion. James.
I just landed from a trip. Took a quick look at your video from the checkerboard turn to touchdown. Did not look too bad. Next week I will try to watch the whole thing. Nice job. We will talk next week. James
i was born literally about two weeks before kai tak closed down. i’m sad that i’ll never get to experience a ride or fly an approach into such a spectacular airport. oh well, guess i gotta stick to microsoft flight simulator approaches.
The creator of this video is a very sharp individual. I worked with him at two different airlines 20 years apart. I flew into Kai Tak several times in the 90's. Always a challenge and a thrill.
Thank you for the video. It's great! I have often wondered what happened with night approaches... was the checkboard lit? And in fog or poor visibility conditions? Thank you!
+Luis Ortega, you had to acquire the checkerboard visually at night time or foggy weather. You could not proceed beyond the checkerboard without visual contact with the airport. Keep watching. Thanks James
Because of winds. Planes always takeoff and land in headwind, and the wind was blowing towards the north (hence land towards the south, runway 13). Also, if they miss the approach on the other side, well they have to climb out and perform hard left turn. Total 15mins for a full go-around
I still don't understand it, wouldn't they see the checkerboard as soon as they came around the mountain on hdg 088? how did they use the checkerboard ?
You fly straight towards it, then a combination of visual identification of the field and runway lights guide you through a right-hand turn to the runway.
Great video. Reminds me of the many great landings into Kai Tak when I was a kid, mainly on Northwest Airlines. JFK > NRT > HKG. What airline did you fly for?
Yup, there were lead-in lights. All advertising lights in the vicinity must remain steady - only aviation lights were allowed to flash. The concrete pedestal where the IGS antenna once stood (it was removed in 1998) is still there, though not many people think much of it.
That is an excellent question. The wind always seemed to favor runway 13 but there was an approach to runway 31 (the other side). I never landed on runway 31. Thanks and keep watching! James
The reason was that runway 31 was not a suitable runway for departure because of obstacles in front of the runway so close, that only runway 13 was available at that airport.
It's basically an offset Instrument Landing System (ILS) and only guides planes to Checkerboard Hill, not to the runway. As such a 47 deg turn was required
I landed on RWY 31 ... i.e. from the other direction ... one time. It depends on wind direction of course and being surrounded by mountains ... the so-called "Nine Dragons" ("Gau Lung" >>> Kowloon), RWY 13 was the most-used approach.
1."Kei duck" would be a better pronunciation if spoken in Cantonese 2. The hill is called signal Hill. 3. The airport has now rebuilt as a seaport, both civilian and military use. With the airspace around lifted a lot of old 60s/70s buildings are also rebuilt into more modern apartment blocks
There was 1 runway. You have to take off and land travelling the same direction and the takeoff from the other direction meant that they had to offload payload to be lighter to outclimb the hills. But they still did it if the wind was strong enough.
@@simplelifelost Thank you for answering, but I still don't understand why they didn't land from the sea. They can take off anyway they want. But why they have to do everything in only one direction?
@@Thanasis_KoligliatisBecause planes taking off will be face to face with planes landing. That’s ok if there aren’t many because they can be spaced apart. But there were a lot. They can fit more arrivals and departures on the runway if they’re all going the same direction.
@@Thanasis_Koligliatis aborting a close-miss landing from the sea is just like an initial climb-out, with only a little extra distance before the hills.
I had an opportunity to land at 13 , I was in the jump seat of 747. The Captain was a friend of mine and in the old days security wasn't such a big deal. This was one of the highlights of my life in the air.
Arrived HKG May 1977 on a Pan Am 747. It was a very exciting experience!! Weaving thru the hills, that hard right turn and drop down thru the buildings and a perfect landing
you are a hero as are thousands of pilots flying into Kai Tak ... done it 5 times as a passenger, once in a severe storm ... words are adequate to describe "the approach" .... sincere Thank-you James !!!
I visited a friend living in Hong Kong in the late 90s when the new airport was being built. Turned out we flew directly over her apartment building, and when there on the ground it was so noisy could not hear anything if a plane was coming in. It was night when I landed, and while taxing to the terminal passed several advertising billboards aimed at folks like me in planes coming in- truly a captive audience!
Was fortunate enough to have experienced this approach back in '97. I had no idea it existed at the time as it was my first trip to HK. Needless to say I was quite alarmed when we 'unexpectectly' went into a severe turn/bank as we were what seemed like mere meters over the buildings. Makes me smile when I think about it. The Kai Tak heart-attack.
Visited it many years ago. Back then it was a dual purpose airport being military and civilian because it was also a Royal Air Force station. I remember seeing Vampires lined up over in the military section.
The checkerboard was repainted in Summer 2023 after locals requested a reminder of the old Kai Tak Airport.
Thank you for sharing this with us. I flew into Kai Tak many many times, as a British Airways steward. Happy memories of Hong Kong, even though it seems like a lifetime ago.
I remember as a passenger (on Philippine Airlines, or Malaysia Air) landing in Kai Tak in 1980. I was coming from Manila. When we approached HK we seem to be weaving in between the mountains like we were trying to sneak in under radar and drop bombs on the city. At one point it seems one wing was on top of the other wing the bank was so steep. Finally as we lowered you could see apartments and businesses stacked in the mountains. As we got ever lower, I kept looking for the ground/runway to come under us. It never did! It looked like we were going to land in the water, like an Alaskan ski plane. We landed but I never saw land on touch down; only when we taxied to the gates. It turns out the landing strip jutted out into the sea (South China Sea I think). Man it was fun, this was probably as close for me as a civilian to get a small bit of feel like a fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier.
Then in 1981 I took off from Kai Tak at night on Cathay Pacific. During the day you see all sorts of businesses in HK. Some are major, some are small "mom and pop" stores. They ALL seem to have some bright neon sign. Many of these neon signs, when you were just walking around were just cheesy and gaudy. A small restaurant could be selling a simple fish dish, but the surrounding bright signs made it look like a carnival. This went on everywhere.
While all this was gaudy at street level it provided one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen! This was during the night take off at Kai Tak. When the plane was lifting off and ascending through the mountains, I saw this amazing light show. It was as though I was a bug flying up and up through a Christmas tree, like I was entering a fourth or even fifth dimension! Layer upon layer of those mountains were lit up almost to the top including apartment buildings. All these bright and multicolored lights were on both sides of the plane, not just on one side. I wanted to ask the pilot to circle around HK and do it all over again! I will never forget that sight, even though it was all man-made. I haven't been to HK in years, and know the airport has moved, and I sometimes wonder if the new airport offers those kind of views. In any case the Old Kai Tak airport was truly an amusement park ride.
I wish you could arrive Kai Tak at night when the plane approached the sea of light, that made you wonder how the pilot could find the runway.
@@cyderandsilky >Indeed, imagine a fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the black ocean with no "lighthouse mountains" to act as a guide...just Darth Vader's laser sword lying there to land on! I think at one time (not really sure) that Kai Tak didn't allow night flights. Glad I got to take off from there when I did.
@@delstanley1349 No midnight flight only, but it was about the noise. There were leading lights on top of buildings to guide the planes to Checkerboard. Before those leading lights installed I really don’t know how the pilot can find the way.
@@delstanley1349 the leading lights also guide to Kai Tak Airport
Spent my childhood staring at this airport from the window everyday!! Stayed in Ping Shek Estate.
Maybe I waved when I flew by in my KLM 747
Thank you for sharing this with us. Landing there on June 30 1997 was sooo exciting. I recall banking heavily between apartment blocks. I looked out my (right side) window to peer into the eyes of a mum who was washing up a plate at the sink. The span between us was only about 50 metres. I can still clearly visualize the moment in my memory. I love Hong Kong! Australia
Visited the checkerboard yesterday, it has recently been restored and looks fabulous again now! shame it's only for show
Great video landed there for the first time as a teen in 1965. Heart stopping.
Thanks and keep watching. Follow us on twitter @jtwpilot
I lived on an island called Cheung Chou. It was the first landmark that the pilots had to seek. Once the found the island, the had to look straight to find the Green Island with a light house. When the reached the light house, they had to break left hard to find the checker board. When they saw the board, they had to break hard right, then they would see the runway.
Had to go so Singapore for business and had a dream before leaving about looking out the window and almost directly into office buildings on landing. Went from LAX to Narita then Kai Tak and then to Singapore. When we made our final approach there it was just like the dream as we banked in to landing at Kai Tak. What a ride!
must fly it ... words are not adequate to describe this nearly surreal approach ... pilots, thousands, heroes all !!!
I once rode on a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight (1980s) into Kai Tak with a senior official of HKG’s civil disaster planning and management agency who recounted about the number of body bags that were stock piled in the tragic event that an inbound wide body aircraft collided into a high rise apartment complex. This was long before the events of 9-11 and the WTCenter collapse. An arriving transoceanic aircraft would have consumed most of its fuel load.
I flew into the old Kai Tak several times in my career. It was always impressive.
Well done this video, old school. Note the KLM simulator! A maintenance fiasco it was , originally built as a 747-200 sim and later modified to -300 updates. Frequent breaks during a sim session to re boot. The approach required good preparation. Especially after a long flight you really had to be on your toes with fatigue. Tailwind on base could really mess things up and thermal activity. But really just came down to pure handling skills . Thanks for taking the time to put this together.
One of the trickiest runways in the world just HAD TO be assigned the number 13 eh?! 😄
truly incredible
Wasn’t so lucky for the China Airlines B747-400. Slid right off the end of the runway in a storm. The airport authority had to blow the vertices stabilizer off so aircraft could land and takeoff during the salvage operation.
One of the best explanations of this airport I have seen. Thank you!
FWIW, I believe the checkerboard as a visual approach cue was in use at least as early as the early 1960s. I have a BOAC booklet "Flying the Boeing 707" from the early 60's (at least) that showed the checkerboard in use then.
It was a total bummer when this historic airport closed down. Thanks for the video JTW.
Yeap. Thanks for the feedback and keep watching.
Brings back good memories , Thank oyu
I was among the first wave of air marshals about 1972. I arrived at this airport many times, and it always piqued my attention.
I was a kid living in HK and the planes for a 4/5 ur old were no big deal. Had quite a few landings/takeoffs at Kai Tak. As an adult in the Forces I got to experience landing whilst in cockpit of a VC 10! Just awesome! RIP Kai Tak!
Thanks for sharing!
Back in the late 90s, I got to sit on jump seat in the cockpit of a Cathay Pacific 747 during a night landing. The captain said you just follow the strobes on top of the buildings to the checkerboard. When the checkerboard filled up the windscreen, turn right. Runway 13 was right there. They made it look easy. I miss Kai Tak, but it was small. No way it could handle the volume of traffic that it's replacement, Chep Lak Kok handles.
Thanks for watching. Follow us on twitter @jtwpilot
Those were the days, Kai Tek, less overcrowding and pollution, nicer buildings and of course the Union Jack flying proud.
Take me back :'(
My introduction to being based out in Hong Kong for three years was the checker board approach. Looking out the window at the Chinese man sat on his balcony eating his bowl of rice.
I felt the same way. Sometimes it seemed like that man could touch my wingtip. Enjoy and keep watching.
What a surreal experience it was to be a passenger flying into Kai Tak. I felt as though I could pull the laundry hanging to dry on apartment balconies; we were so close! Kudos to you and other pilots for providing safe and magical travel experiences. Love your vid ;)
+ded maroz thanks for the nice comment. You really had to be there, to realize how close you came to those apartment buildings. Glad you enjoyed the video thanks for watching. James
Did it in a DC8, pretty impressive, Departed RW13 2 days later in a typhoon.
Flew in there dozens of times. Woo Hoo!
Me too yeehaha ! Joe Banana's ....Seamans Mission, Nathan Road.....
Thanks for this brilliant contribution.
Was lucky enough to have had five landings as a passenger - of course on the right side. Later I tried it on my PC and after numerous attempts it finally worked - what a great feeling !!
Thank you for the video
It is very hard for general public to understand how HARD it was to land in Kai Tak airport
I remember landing in early 90's in the eve of typhoon
It was hairy as passenger
I can't imagine how the pilot handle it
Arrived several times in kai tak in 80's n 90's
Always amazed you can look into the apartment window and see what they have for dinner 😀
Landed in new airport several times since
New airport is an order of magnitude easier I think
😀
Just come back from hongkong last week
Obviously you have been into Kai Tak with the comment -"Always amazed you can look into the apartment window and see what they have for dinner" Thanks James
James Weatherly only on the right hand side of the airplane
Once I was on the left hand side. The view was disappointing 😀
Correct. All the apartment buildings were on the right side during the final right turn. Thanks for the comment. James
Did it many times, we used to joke you could see Kojacks head on the apartment tv on non laundry day during the right turn
My father flew for Flying Tigers and has landed at this airport many times in 747 100/200 and DC-8's.
Dad as definitely a hero !!!
My mother and step father lived in HK from 1984 until 1996. I flew into Kai Tak quite often. Mostly landing at night after traveling from Narita (Tokyo) and Detroit or NYC. Incredible bank just before landing, seeing people in their homes below.
had to see it to believe ... bordering in the realm of "unreal" !!!
Great video! A legendary approach. A friend of mine had worked as a cathay pacific's captain wayback in the 90's and he Said It was always a hair-raising landing !! Thanks for the upload
Your friend was right! Keep watching. James
The cruise ship terminal is located on the old runway now. In the future when it’s safe to travel by cruise ship again after the Coronavirus outbreak is contained, you may visit HK again by cruise ship and it will bring you straight to the old Kai Tak runway!
Danny Lau HK is in my wishlist. Hopefully, can visit one day..
A 300m section of the original runway still remains intact (with markings), beside the cruise terminal. I'm glad to have walked on it (fortunately the gate was open!)
Had no idea it closed that long ago. Wow, 25 years already.
I flew Cathay a few times in the eighties and nineties. Always amazed me how the pilots could make those super difficult landings. It was always scary to see the high-rise buildings right next to the wing as one approached the Kai Tak runway. Always kept my fingers crossed. 😀.
Nice comments.
Even scarier to live underneath the flight path! As the son of a soldier, I used to live in Osborn Barracks on Waterloo Road (just in front of the bottom left of the blue circle at 03:27 ). I could see the checkrboard from the barracks and could walk to Kai Tak in 20 minutes, even allowing for crossing all roads and dodging the traffic.
It got to the point where I could tell, without looking up, the airline, the type of aircraft and the engines mounted on the aircraft. Flights were that frewuent. as well as the engines sounding different one model from another, the way different airlines flew the approach meant that (at the time) I could differentiate between airlines which used the same type of engine! And, no, it wasn't something I consciously tried to learn.
I also lived in what was then Lyemun Barracks on the eastern end of Hong Kong islnd. Aircraft would normally take off and head out over Lyemun Gap - the bit you can see at the end of the runway between the island and the mainland. So I got to see them coming and going!
Twenty years before this period, I was born in Hong Kong. I travelled there in utero on a Bristol Britannia (the largest ircraft allowed to land there at the time) and travelled back to the UK prior to my Dad being posted in Germany and Cyprus multiple times on another Bristol Britannia three years later. The sight of that beast late at night under the floodlights of Kai Tak airport in 1967 when I was just three years old is something I have never forgotten. Those were the days, of course, when you walked out onto the apron to board.
It's odd to think that I may have looked up and actually seen Mr. Weatherly flying overhead.
Oh yes: and that enclosed area on the land side of the airport ... it stank from all the raw sewage that poured into the water there. You could smell it from inside the aircraft as it finished its run along the runway.
Thank you for sharing that. I would have been on one of those planes. Thank you for keeping us safe.
My first trip to the far Est by 1990 was Hong Kong for buisness i was 33 and nobody told me how was Kai Tak landing so i thought the plane was crashing down the building at first It was an amazing experience for me ! (a french Kai Tak airport fan )
hong kong is great country dispite protest still safe great time to vist
kai tak was unique, unmistakable and unforgettable, though a bit unforgivable to pilots when cross winds blow
Very true !! I made lots of landings there in the 747 and none were relaxing.
Check out more of my 747 videos at th-cam.com/play/PLHWhYW-XLnzCdETqRqFcXQiaeHV_4j0yh.html
James Weatherly
My father was a flight attendant for China Airlines from the late 70's to the late 90's. He knew the pilots as well as several crew members of the China Airlines flight that made the splash into Victoria Harbor. As for the captain, well lets just say management was not happy that a brand new $200 million dollar 747 was trashed after only being in service for three months.
Great story. The 747 looked like it was very new. I was in HKG when it happened.
It must have been pretty surreal for you seeing a 747 bobbing up and down in the waves. Yea China Airlines was not the best role model for safety back then, I think the Nagoya crash that happened a year after the Hong Kong overrun and the similar crash in Taoyuan couple of years later are one of the main reasons my dad decided not to fly anymore and move the family to the States.
Thanks again for your "first person" feedback. Keep watching and follow us on twitter @jtwpilot 😃
I flew the Delta MD11 into Kai Tak. I took the last flight in 1996. It was an interesting approach for sure. The most challenging was doing it at night with some weather. It could be hard to pick the runway out with all the other city lights. Great fun.
Thanks for sharing. Enjoy and keep watching.
Nice video James. I only did it in the DC8, by the time I transitioned to the 74 the place was closed. Many memories of trying to be better each time I did the IGS 13. I think they should keep the checkerboards painted for nostalgia purposes. Hello from an Orion Air shipmate.
Great to hear from you Kevin. Hope all is well. A few years back I took a new FO out to see the checkerboard up close. It was very faded and barely visible.
Thanks for the nice comment. James
PS - Don't forget to join my family of subscribers that way I can give advance notice about my next videos. www.jtweatherly.com/join-our-family-of-subcribers/
Very well. I was lucky enough to be in the jump seat of a Cathay 747 a couple of times and with that mass, it was pretty exciting....
This Kai Tak made airplanes swam like a carp fish over HK sky those days.
Great Time Kai Tak
Thanks! Keep watching and listening. You can follow me on twitter @jtwpilot Thanks James
Thanks for sharing!!
You are welcome. I post 10 times a day on twitter @jtwpilot
Thank you for your video quite enjoyable. Did you ever make the opposite directions approach
I flew into this airport in 1964 but we landed on 31 and as I looked out the window I pulled my feet up thinking they were going to get wet, because all you saw was water until the wheels hit the ground. But there was a lot of talk about that landing on 13.
This is so cool
Thanks so much Rahul. Check out more videos at
th-cam.com/play/PLHWhYW-XLnzACyhw7vmCMwJj0pbORgxPO.html
Enjoy and thanks for your comment. James
Hi 👋 yes we went to Hong Kong 🇭🇰 in December 1996 just for Chris Packham took over we had a great time in Hong Kong 🇭🇰🌏✈️🛬🛫👍👍😁😁 & keep up the good work MR 🍺🍺🍺🍺
Thank you very much !
dream is to visit hong kong...
Great place to visit.
If are interested in Hong Kong, check out th-cam.com/video/TSLvbXmEU0Q/w-d-xo.html
yeah - the memories:)) and that china airlines 744 hitting the drink - i was actually on that same plane a couple years prior on a hop to taipei - midnight departure (already 2 hours late due to engine problems they said) - we finally board for the hour long trip - 30 mins into the flight, a huge bang and sudden nose pitch up around 40k ft - plane then went into freefall - no doubt the plane stalled after whatever it hit (or whatever lol) - and China Airlines had such a bad reputation for safety - my friend and i pretty much said "see you in the next life". The decent was rapid and literally within a few minutes we were around 15k ft - then a few minutes later, we landed at taipei.
I said to my travel colleague - "not flying with that lot again" - so he booked another ticket for my return home (sydney) on Cathay.
Then on future trips into HK, I saw that overshot runway incident on the news - i tell ya, i was NOT surprised hahahaha - because i remember that night the weather was raining (perhaps typhoon?)...and the pilot decided to land anyway??
So in other words the incident could have been avoided - and knowing the taiwanese as somewhat negligent safety wise in lots of areas, my last trip to taipei was when i decided enough was enough after experiencing an earthquake of around 6 on the richter - being on the top floor of an office building - again around 1 am - the shock of that leaving a mental scar for a few years of not wanting to walk inside another tall building......like i eventually got over the issue years later.... but still:)) As soon as the quake stopped - construction workers digging out a subway literally just went straight back to work lol. Thats when it dawned on me Taiwan was living on borrowed time....and so i never returned.
Future trips just had me do my work in HK instead - though the checker board was always a thrill, especially if u got a window seat peering into peoples apts etc on the way round that hard right Uturn almost - hahahaha - but mind you the direction of the runway did change directions and i always wondered why the CB approach stayed as compared to the less eventful harbour side approach.....probably weather might have determined which way to arrive, or depart.
tnx for sharing the experience:)
Awesome share. I remember the incident with China Airlines. They lost an engine with the autopilot on and then the airplane lost control and "fell out of the sky". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006 Not a fun ride for you. James
no not that incident - mine happened after that one (1990/1?) - and i think they purposely kept it hushed - the plane was a 744 which was the only one in their fleet at the time ( a new plane) - my incident was on the HK to Taipei leg. That one to LA I only found about years later and again i wasnt surprised lol
It was a 747, doofus. There is no such plane as a 744.
FYI...The type rating designation for the B747-400 is B744. I have type ratings for both the B747 and B744.
Scott Amundsen who's the doofus? Do your research son!
In 1997 I went from Sydney to Europe I went through Kai Tak with Cathy Pacific
I was flying there in 1991 with KLM. Saw lots of Cathy Pacific planes doing the approach. Thanks for the comment. James
I loved Kai Tak, the airport that we have now is fantastic, but doesn't have that vibe when you are landing
Thanks for watching
the thrill is gone! or was it just danger...
First time seeing approach lighting placed on top of buildings 😅
Yes that is strange. The Canarsie approach at JFK has a similar setup with "lead-in" lights on top of a hotel. Thanks for the good observations. James
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing.
I have fond memories of Kai Tak
star of the sea
My memory of landing there in 1968 was that the approach path was the mirror image of this 'checkerboard' approach - i.e. our plane (a DC8 perhaps) banked steeply left immediately before landing. The pilots hit reverse thrust while the plane was still airborne, and the plane dropped like a stone. When we hit I thought we would see the undercarriage appear through the top of the wings, it was that hard.
Yahoooo! BTDT!
Fred..learned a new one BTDT - Been There Done That. Thanks for the comment and keep watching. James.
Hi James,
I just came across this video and loved the old photos. I was JUST old enough to remember flying into Kai Tak twice as a child, and now that I'm older and love playing flight simulators, this has got to be one of my favourite landings!
Thank you for sharing the photos. Would love to hear more about your experiences with the old Kai Tak though! And any tips for flying into it on my sim please? =P
Glad you enjoyed the video! Others have asked about flying the sim into Kai Tak. I may try to do a video on that in 2018. Thanks for the suggestion. James.
I just landed from a trip. Took a quick look at your video from the checkerboard turn to touchdown. Did not look too bad. Next week I will try to watch the whole thing. Nice job. We will talk next week. James
Howie Hobbit
You have Kai Tak Flytampa?
Great Airporr
That there.........is THAT THERE!
great video!
It is a bit amazing they could get a 747 into there. I doubt an A380 could have done it.
i was born literally about two weeks before kai tak closed down. i’m sad that i’ll never get to experience a ride or fly an approach into such a spectacular airport. oh well, guess i gotta stick to microsoft flight simulator approaches.
If I hear a southern accent from a pilot I know I am in good hands. Not sure why. :)
If I hear an Australian accent I feel safe …loved flying into this airport.
The creator of this video is a very sharp individual. I worked with him at two different airlines 20 years apart. I flew into Kai Tak several times in the 90's. Always a challenge and a thrill.
Why at this time the planes didn't land from the other side of the runway to avoid accidents ?
The wind very rarely allowed for landing in the opposite direction
Great video thanks for sharing
You are welcome. Keep watching.
They literaly blew the tail of 747 because it blocked the runway after failed to land. 🤣🤣 quite fun fact
So many queens
Great to see those ol' CX L-1011s too. *Nearly* as comfortable as a Queen to fly.
Loved riding in the L-1011 cockpit. Almost as big as my living room!
Bin there done dat ;-)
Thank you for the video. It's great!
I have often wondered what happened with night approaches... was the checkboard lit? And in fog or poor visibility conditions? Thank you!
+Luis Ortega, you had to acquire the checkerboard visually at night time or foggy weather. You could not proceed beyond the checkerboard without visual contact with the airport. Keep watching. Thanks James
Why didn't they land the other way?
Because of winds. Planes always takeoff and land in headwind, and the wind was blowing towards the north (hence land towards the south, runway 13). Also, if they miss the approach on the other side, well they have to climb out and perform hard left turn. Total 15mins for a full go-around
@@speedbirdconcorde001 Very true. Safer into the wind. At LAX they land with the wind after midnight. Noise abatement.
what if you couldn't see the checkerboard due to fog/rain etc?
Without the checkerboard in sight, we would execute a missed approach and go-around.
How to get the background music? .. it sound beautiful
flewinto kai tak on a britannia in the 60's ............spooky.............wow
So whats the replacement there now?
They built a new airport at Lantau on reclaimed land. Good question. James. More info at
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_International_Airport
Yes! Nice musical intro. What is it?
I still don't understand it, wouldn't they see the checkerboard as soon as they came around the mountain on hdg 088? how did they use the checkerboard ?
You fly straight towards it, then a combination of visual identification of the field and runway lights guide you through a right-hand turn to the runway.
Great video. Reminds me of the many great landings into Kai Tak when I was a kid, mainly on Northwest Airlines. JFK > NRT > HKG. What airline did you fly for?
KLM B747-400. Thanks for watching. Follow us on twitter @jtwpilot
The new airport on Lantau is much safer. But Id pay double to land at Tai Kak 13. My generation missed out on this experience.
+the moke You're right I have flown into both of them, new airport at Lantau does not compare to the old one at Kai Tak
I can the GS antenna to the left of the checkerboard, Where is the localizer antenna? Also were there lead in lights to the runway centerline?
Yup, there were lead-in lights. All advertising lights in the vicinity must remain steady - only aviation lights were allowed to flash. The concrete pedestal where the IGS antenna once stood (it was removed in 1998) is still there, though not many people think much of it.
I wonder why they didn't keep it open for regional liners and smaller aircraft. Put a local ground transit station & car parking lot near it.
probably too much congestion with the new chak lep kok airport
why not landing from the other side?
That is an excellent question. The wind always seemed to favor runway 13 but there was an approach to runway 31 (the other side). I never landed on runway 31. Thanks and keep watching! James
The reason was that runway 31 was not a suitable runway for departure because of obstacles in front of the runway so close, that only runway 13 was available at that airport.
Remember 1991 visit and 2010 transit
It was closed in 2010, you landed at the new airport
What does IGS stand for ?
Instrument Guidance System = IGS
It's basically an offset Instrument Landing System (ILS) and only guides planes to Checkerboard Hill, not to the runway. As such a 47 deg turn was required
I flew into Hong Kong on this approach in 1991 on UAL on my way to meet my wife...
incredibly familiar for me 3 years earlier !!!
Why don't they just land from the other direction and not do any of this?
The normal wind direction favored the IGS.
TVStealer depends on the wind direction.
I landed on RWY 31 ... i.e. from the other direction ... one time. It depends on wind direction of course and being surrounded by mountains ... the so-called "Nine Dragons" ("Gau Lung" >>> Kowloon), RWY 13 was the most-used approach.
My new remastered HD version of "The High Price of Freedom" is available for you to enjoy - th-cam.com/video/GzP68oWPM5U/w-d-xo.html
I just want to ask why not landing on the other side of the runway where there is no mountainous terrain?
Pronounced Kai' - Tack
Kai Tak
1."Kei duck" would be a better pronunciation if spoken in Cantonese
2. The hill is called signal Hill.
3. The airport has now rebuilt as a seaport, both civilian and military use. With the airspace around lifted a lot of old 60s/70s buildings are also rebuilt into more modern apartment blocks
Thanks for your comment
"Kai Ducg". There is not quite of a "k" going on at the end of the word.
Texan?
I want to have some drinks with you on an island.
Why didn't they land from the other side?
There are no mountains from the sea side.
There was 1 runway. You have to take off and land travelling the same direction and the takeoff from the other direction meant that they had to offload payload to be lighter to outclimb the hills. But they still did it if the wind was strong enough.
@@simplelifelost Thank you for answering,
but I still don't understand why they didn't land from the sea.
They can take off anyway they want.
But why they have to do everything in only one direction?
@@Thanasis_KoligliatisBecause planes taking off will be face to face with planes landing. That’s ok if there aren’t many because they can be spaced apart. But there were a lot. They can fit more arrivals and departures on the runway if they’re all going the same direction.
@@simplelifelost OK, now I understand it.
Thank you for explaining and, also, for your patience
@@Thanasis_Koligliatis aborting a close-miss landing from the sea is just like an initial climb-out, with only a little extra distance before the hills.