[Leica] Planes Landing at old Kai Tak Hong Kong

[cummer at netvigator.com (H&E Cummer)]

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