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Crosswind 747 landings at Kai Tak airport, Hong Kong

AlaskaAV

AlaskaAV

GONE WEST
Mission, TX
eviens said:
Ernie the stories you have been writing are great don't let one person take the wind out of your sails.I started flying in Alaska in the early seventys and have flown supercubs and Cessnas, Beavers,C82Boxcars,DC6,727,737,747-200and747-400.and have over 26000 hours total time.Every pilot makes mistakes if you live through them you try not to make the same mistake twice.It is always great to talk about them so we can learn from our mistakes.That is what makes us better pilots.Keep up the good work I love to here the stories about the old days.
Ernie Viens
Click to expand...

You mentioned driving 747-200s and 400s Ernie. Really doesn't matter who you drove for but did you ever fly into the old Kai Tak airport at Hong Kong before it was shut down? There are some really unbelievable video clips available on line showing what the guys had to go through on landing due to unbelievable cross winds. One clip shows a 747 in probably a 40 degree crab at point of touchdown and how he gets it straightened up and still more or less on centerline on rollout. Others showing the downwind number 1 engine dragging the runway sending up sparks and smoke (usually always an engine change). It was bad enough getting around checkerboard square in a 747 and immediate 30 degree turn into a very short final at maybe 400 or 500 foot but than working with such an immediate cross wind at the same time was something else for sure.
 
I believe the correct name for the airport is Kai Tak.

I have seen many of thse film clips. While I agree that the approach for landing in that direction was tough, I think that most of these spectacular landings were due to bad technique and an unwillingnes to go around and do it again - RIGHT.

One of the things I noticed was that all of the airlines in these pictures were Asian. Culturally it would be a big loss of face for the Captain to say "this isn't good we should go around and try it again". That is a big difference in our ultures.

John Scott
 
Longwinglover said:
I believe the correct name for the airport is Kai Tak.

I have seen many of thse film clips. While I agree that the approach for landing in that direction was tough, I think that most of these spectacular landings were due to bad technique and an unwillingnes to go around and do it again - RIGHT.

One of the things I noticed was that all of the airlines in these pictures were Asian. Culturally it would be a big loss of face for the Captain to say "this isn't good we should go around and try it again". That is a big difference in our ultures.

John Scott
Click to expand...

Correct John
Almost all of those questionable landings were made by just one airline as I recall (just as you said).
Their safety record is not very good either.

Kind of like the international heavy departing Anchorage that used a taxiway instead of the runway for departure and while doing so, left main gear tracks in the snow as it went off the end of the taxiway.
 
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