[Leica] Planes Landing at old Kai Tak Hong Kong

[zoeica at mac.com (Chris Williams)]

Love these!


Chris Williams
504-231-6261
www.zoeicaimages.net

Sent from my iholga 


On Jul 3, 2013, at 6:30 PM, H&E Cummer <cummer at netvigator.com> wrote:

> Hello Luggers,
> I have been sorting through my old photo CDs from the 1990's and came 
> across the following shots taken from the top of the parking garage at 
> Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport a few weeks before the airport closed forever.
> People with a sense of history flocked to the airport to take pictures of 
> the planes landing and as you can see they did get close. In the 60 plus 
> years that Kai Tak (named after Mr. Kai and Mr. Tak - who owned the land 
> where the airport was built) was Hong Kong's international airport there 
> was never a crash on approach although a few airplanes did skid off the 
> end of the runway at the other end - into the stinky "Fragrant Harbour" 
> (Xiang Gang = Hong Kong).
> 
> A few gawkers at the parking garage:
> 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/KaiTak1998/KaiTak1998W.jpg.html>
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/kh2yohv
> 
> Here are Anna (now 36 and Miss O's Mom) and Katie (now working at Hong 
> Kong U and studying for her Phd)
> and me (fatter then than I am now) on the top of the garage with a Cathay 
> Pacific (CX) plane in the background.
> 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/KaiTak1998/CXKaiTakAKHw.jpg.html>
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/k7w3yju
> 
> Here's a straight on view of another CX 747 also in new  (for then) livery:
> 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/KaiTak1998/CXNewLivW.jpg.html>
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/mq4amp3
> 
> And here's a vertical shot of a CX 747 in its old colours. Anna and Katie 
> are just in the right hand lower corner of the photograph.
> 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/KaiTak1998/CXVertKTw.jpg.html>
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/mrkd2j9
> 
> And lastly here we are, Anna, Katie and me, further down the roof of the 
> car park - away from the crowds - with a China Airlines 747 in the 
> background.
> The group shots of the three of us were taken by John our driver.
> 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/KaiTak1998/ChinaAirW.jpg.html>
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/mxe95p5
> 
> The approach to Kai Tak meant aiming the landing aircraft at a checker 
> board set on a hillside of Kowloon and then turning the plane at the last 
> moment into the final approach to the runway.
> There are several Youtube videos showing this approach - including a 
> couple of near misses (Thai Airways landing in a cross wind)
> 
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3Ccs5tKfw>
> 
> The old ways of the old days may not have been better but they were 
> certainly fun!
> 
> Please look large - C&C always welcome.
> 
> Howard
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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