[AMcWhirter]

I haven’t visited Hong Kong since the days of Kai Tak and was always excited when landing there with various carriers: CX, BA and TG.

Readers will I am sure be interested in this video showing the new terminal’s opening in 1962.

I especially liked to see the BOAC aircraft and that apron transfer !

Back then BOAC’s Comet must have made many stops between HKG and LHR.

Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport gets a new terminal (1962). Interesting apron transport. Lots of BOAC including the majestic Comet.

It was opened by Governor Sir Robert Black, little-remembered now but whose economic reforms in the colony influenced Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore pic.twitter.com/aPlq8MrSYl

— Captain Brent 🇬🇧 (@Birdseed501) February 27, 2023

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EruditeSheep, A300B4, Badgercabs, esselle, Bullfrog, GivingupBA

[esselle]

Wow! The new “million pound” terminal! Things have changed a bit.

Approach over Kowloon Bay was great, but nothing could ever beat the approach toward the checker board.

Happy memories.

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TerryMcManus24

[nevereconomy]

And that wonderful smell of stale water that came in the cabin as soon as you landed – and of course at one time the carcass of the (I think I am correct)
CI aircraft that ran off the runway. A favorite memory is of Elton John in the F lounge in around 1980….and of course being able to see people eating and watching
tv in their homes as you came down that “tunnel” between the blocks of flats. It all seems like yesterday. I have been back very many time since, but it was special
when it meant going home to that fantastic Hong Kong life of the 70s and 80s.

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Bullfrog

[cwoodward]

It was a great terminal.
At they time I was travelling in and out of HK 4 or 5 times a week -every week -often same day trips to Taiwan or Manila or longer to Tokyo – Bangkok etc
Cathay Pacific was a smallish airline in those days and I played rugby at weekends with many of the pilots and we all grant at the Aero Club (10 m from the end of the runway (Kowloon City end).

Normally I was 1st off the aircraft and bag was number 1 or 2 on the belt. I lived 1km away in Yau Yat Cheun and could be home in 40 minutes from landing as there were always taxies waiting.
It was not a fancy terminal but it worked more or less military fashion and was ultra efficient I like the 1996 built “new” terminal but it all takes 3 times as long………

nevereconomy – The infamous Kai Tak nulla ‘the perfume of HK and never supressed -it was still wafting around when the airport closed and I am certain that I got a wiff the other day when visiting the new huge stadium complex sited just where the crossing bridge of the nulla used to be. it will be an unexpected bonus for HK Sevens visitors in 2 years time.

I could go on but will resist…

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AMcWhirter, Bullfrog

[Montysaurus]

esselle wrote:

Wow! The new “million pound” terminal! Things have changed a bit.

Approach over Kowloon Bay was great, but nothing could ever beat the approach toward the checker board.

Happy memories.

Ditto, esselle

[CathayLoyalist2]

My wife was on the last flight out of Kai Tak CX251 on a visit to see her mum. The Captain was retiring and that was his last flight. The late Peter Sutch was at the gate handing out gifts to all passengers so quite an occasion For me the terminal worked and could we ever forget the “nulla”

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TerryMcManus24, AMcWhirter, Bullfrog, cwoodward

[AMcWhirter]

When I first visited Hong Kong in 1974 I took the hotel shuttle bus to Causeway Bay where I was staying.

I later discovered there was a public bus service between the airport and Causeway Bay using the Cross Harbour Tunnel. The stop was very close to the terminal and I used that bus service on several occasions.

The convenience of Kai Tak reminds me of the now closed Berlin Tempelhof. Just outside its historic terminal there’s an U-Bahn station so one can reach Mitte district within say 10 or 15 mins.

[Chris in Makati]

I did my Private Pilot’s License training at the Aviation Club at Kai Tak in the 1990s. I doubt whether there are many airports in the world that a PPL student can fly where there are Boeing 747s taking off and landing on the same runway.

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cwoodward, esselle, AMcWhirter

[Johnnyg]

Chris in Makati wrote:

I did my Private Pilot’s License training at the Aviation Club at Kai Tak in the 1990s. I doubt whether there are many airports in the world that a PPL student can fly where there are Boeing 747s taking off and landing on the same runway.

I seem to remember that during the early 80’s to mid / late 90’s seeing Ravenair flying school operating at Man before moving to LPL due to the new runway construction. During this period there were many 747’s. Both scheduled and charter.

[esselle]

Johnnyg wrote:

Chris in Makati wrote:

I did my Private Pilot’s License training at the Aviation Club at Kai Tak in the 1990s. I doubt whether there are many airports in the world that a PPL student can fly where there are Boeing 747s taking off and landing on the same runway.

I seem to remember that during the early 80’s to mid / late 90’s seeing Ravenair flying school operating at Man before moving to LPL due to the new runway construction. During this period there were many 747’s. Both scheduled and charter.

Now you’ve jogged my memory JohnnyG!

I remember CX operating MAN-AMS-HKG, SQ MAN-MUN-SIN and Wardair. We’re there others?

[Johnnyg]

esselle wrote:

Johnnyg wrote:

Chris in Makati wrote:

I did my Private Pilot’s License training at the Aviation Club at Kai Tak in the 1990s. I doubt whether there are many airports in the world that a PPL student can fly where there are Boeing 747s taking off and landing on the same runway.

I seem to remember that during the early 80’s to mid / late 90’s seeing Ravenair flying school operating at Man before moving to LPL due to the new runway construction. During this period there were many 747’s. Both scheduled and charter.

Now you’ve jogged my memory JohnnyG!

I remember CX operating MAN-AMS-HKG, SQ MAN-MUN-SIN and Wardair. We’re there others?

The first time I flew on CX was on the Man – Fra – HKG route about 1990, Other ones were, Quantas, BA, Singapore, Wardair, Canadian Pacific, Dragon air, Orionair, Air Hong Kong, PIA and South African airways.

[JD_84]

Interesting to see both BOAC with both Comet and 707 at Hong Kong in the film. I wonder why BOAC why they used both types at the same time? With the range of the 707 at least double that of the Comet it would have alleviated an extra stop just flying the 707.

[Markyah]

Dear old Kai Tak was quintessentially Hong Kong, completely mad of course and understandable why it had to close but when it did a big piece of the wonderful puzzle that was HKG was lost – may be the Handover had something to do with it as well!

I wrote to Cathay just before what I knew would be my final flight from London into Kai Tak and asked if I could witness the approach from the flight deck. I had forgotten when about an hour out the Purser approached me and said the Captain had asked if I would like to come to the flight deck. I sat in the jump seat behind the first officer with headphones on listening to the ATC chatter and heard them say CX250 turn south. It was busy at Kai Tak so we flew down the South China Sea for 20 minutes and then back again. Listening to the pre-landing check and witnessing it at the same time was surreal and then there it was, the chequerboard. The Captain flew the 747 with just one hand on the stick and touched it down gracefully. Amazing and unforgettable experience. Thank you Cathay.

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Woodpecker

[cwoodward]

What exactly was ‘mad’ about the old airport please Markyah (the land approach ?) the approach was not the easiest but was perfectly doable for any competent pilot and interesting for the paxs onboard.

I lived close to the airport on the elevated Yau Yat Cheun hill and had a a large roof garden where we used sit often in the large jacuzzi with a Grundig multi band shortwave radio plus a slab of San’mig (with the barbeque close by) and watch and listen to the aircraft on ‘final’ that passed about 100m away at roughly the same height as my roof garden. (it seemed that way but they were probably about 50M higher when they past).
We used to take bets on which flights needed to ‘go around’ as the pilots could not get the aircraft down on the first attempt. It was not that unusual to also fail also on the second attempt, particularly if windy in which case they were sent off to Taiwan.
About one in 25 or so aircraft failed to land on the first attempt, the worst offender being Flying Tigers, Northwest and a couple of other brand name American airlines that no longer exist and some sundry freight operators. The Cathay boys predictably never had any difficulty nor did the Brits, Australians Germans or Swiss as I recall.
It was all great fun as most of the gathering would have been pilots of one sort or another.

It was of course an airport of its time but worked well and efficiently. The terminal and the parking areas were regularly updated as needed.

Of course it was time for a new larger facility by the early nineties.
I was very fortunate to reasonably often be in (on) the jump seat for landing as many of the skippers were friends but only the once (somewhat clandestinely) at the new airport.

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esselle

[Markyah]

What was “mad” was flying jets through Kowloon. It was an amazing experience and, of course, pilots were competent enough to do it, even in typhoon conditions but for the souls living in Kowloon City it was not much fun and the consequences of any accident on approach were unthinkable. Capacity constraints on pax and, more especially, cargo made a new airport inevitable.

[Author]

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