Misadventures part 5
Hong Kong
I have been in Hong Kong throughout the construction of this website, everything
up to and including most of my entry for this stop on my trip has been taken from my journal.
Therefore the screenshots are from a couple of trips I took around the city for the purpose of having
shots for this page.
Hong Kong is sort of the crossroads for this part of the world, so there has got to be something
there, this part of the world has not been very pretty in the scenery department.
I choose the Pan am 747-400 for this trip starting in Hanoi.
I have a video I got somewhere of planes landing at Kai Tek airport in Hong Kong, I realize this
airport is now closed but it just feels right flying into HK with a 747.
I take off and climb up to FL390 for cruising altitude.
As I am switching views and looking at the countryside and such, I notice the landing gear doors
are stuck open, I fiddle with the gear lever a few times but no dice. I just hope my gear drop when it comes time to land.
I don't know if it's a bug with this plane or if the sim throws random trouble in every so often, oh well, I am well over
China by this time so there is nothing I can do about it.
The flight path pretty much hugs the China coast, there are mountains in the distance and
paddies down below, and scattered islands out to sea.
Here is an actual entry I have in my journal that I jotted down during this flight:
I could never move to China and live there with a straight face, there are just too many places
with dong in the name, and what if someone introduced himself as Ding-Dong Long?
This could happen in China, and I would laugh and end up getting kung fu-ed or karate chopped, then
you'd see ol' Ding-Dong Long goin' Bruce Lee on my ass.
Too easy to make jokes.
I also have it noted that I should be able to find a great deal on fireworks while I'm here.
After a while, ATC starts me down from my cruising altitude and gets me lined up for the
approach and my fear came true, the gear wouldn't come down.
The new HK airport is built on an island, so I only had so much room to work with, without the added
drag from the landing gear I crossed the threshold at about 180 knots, a little fast but I should be able to stop in time.
It didn't work that way, I eased the jumbo onto the concrete as gently as possible, and I must have
did okay because the sim didn't crash me, but there I was hauling balls down the runway on the belly of this gigantic airliner,
the sound of grinding metal against the tarmac, and there came a point when I had to decide if I was going to try to get back
in the air or drown in the harbor.
I chose to live a while longer and shoved my throttle forward and pulled back on my stick,
miraculously the nose began to rise and I was airbourne just as I reached the waters edge, whew! now what?
I figured I needed to slow this thing down as much as possible when I came around again, which
is what I did.
I had already been on the runway once, so all ATC wanted me to do was contact ground, I guess
they didn't see the predicament I was in and that must be why they let a 777 pull onto the runway just as I was about to make
a much slower attempt to land, I wasn't about to go around again, and I was barely above stall speed, so I headed for the
grass.
Actually this was probably the best thing under the circumstances, it would make for a softer landing
and help me come to a stop.
I actually reversed my thrust before I ever made contact with the earth, I sat that thing
down soft enough that I never did get the crash screen, but I dug one hell of a ditch, this was very apparent after coming
to a stop, when I switched to the outside view, all that was sticking out of the ground was the tail and upper deck of the
747. I wish I had a screenshot of that!
After my therapist released me to fly again, I hopped in a little plane and went to check
out downtown Hong Kong, and my was I impressed, it was the first real city I have seen since Sydney. I buzzed around and decided
to come back at night, which I did and it was quite beautiful.
I also decided that since I was in town I would just have to land a 747 at Kai-Tek, even though
it is technically inactive, it is still there, before I leave town I will do that and take some photos.
And so, this brings me to the present, I have taken several flights around HK, taking
photos and such. I have been quite anxious to resume my trip around the world, and see what misadventures lie ahead for
me. Only from now on I will not only take notes but photos also.
I have a feeling this could get very interesting, and
with all the trouble I get into, you just know you will want to see what happens next.
